Chief Judge Colm F. Connolly has referred David R. Bennett of Direction IP Law to “his bar’s disciplinary counsel” given that the record in cases filed in the District of Delaware by Swirlate IP LLC, a plaintiff tied to Texas monetization firm IP Edge LLC, “is very clear that [Bennett] never obtained the informed consent of Swirlate to file and settle lawsuits on its behalf”. Judge Connolly has also expressed the intention to refer the matters filed by Backertop Licensing LLC, another IP Edge-linked plaintiff, to the US Department of Justice, indicating that although the court views Backertop’s sole owner, Texas paralegal Lori LaPray, “to a large extent” as “a victim in this case”, he will only reduce a $53K civil contempt fine (for failure to appear in person before him) to a judgment that he will now bring “to the attention of the Department of Justice” for enforcement because it would be a “terrible message to the folks at IP Edge” to do otherwise.

The Federal Circuit has backed Delaware Chief Judge Colm F. Connolly’s authority to explore whether a fraud may have been perpetrated on the court and/or on the USPTO via certain LLC plaintiffs, including by requiring the human owners of those LLCs to appear in person before him. Not only has Judge Connolly ordered one of those owners, Texas paralegal Lori LaPray, to show up in Delaware on September 18, ready to pay a $53K civil contempt fine, he has also ordered Swirlate IP LLC to make a document production to the court, in full and unredacted this time, with Dina Gamez (Swirlate IP’s sole owner) and David R. Bennett of Direction IP Law (its counsel) also expected in person on September 18. The owners of other plaintiffs before Judge Connolly, including those of Creekview IP LLC, MISSED CALL, LLC, and SAFE IP LLC, are on notice that their own dates are likely now coming.

Last month, the Federal Circuit denied an appeal filed by Backertop Licensing LLC and its sole owner and Texas paralegal Lori LaPray from an order in which Delaware Chief Judge Colm F. Connolly imposed a running civil contempt fine. The mandate ending that appeal and returning jurisdiction to Judge Connolly has now issued. The court has set a September 18, 2024 hearing, at which LaPray is to be physically present “to address potential fraud on the Court involving Backertop, potential misconduct by Backertop's counsel, and Backertop's document production made in response to the Court's March 31, 2023 Memorandum Order” and by which time LaPray is to be prepared to pay the cumulative contempt fine, which the court indicates comes to $53K.

Last week, the Federal Circuit denied an appeal filed by Backertop Licensing LLC and its sole owner and Texas paralegal Lori LaPray from an order in which Delaware Chief Judge Colm F. Connolly imposed a running civil contempt fine. Judge Connolly had ordered LaPray to appear before him in person to answer questions about the assets, control, and behavior of Backertop. She refused, and Judge Connolly fined her $200 per open day of court until she does. The appeals court has now backed Judge Connolly, ruling that his order requiring her to appear in person and his order imposing the civil contempt fine “were within the District Court’s inherent authority and were not abuses of discretion”. The fines began to run on August 23, 2023—roughly 334 calendar days ago.

Delaware Chief Judge Colm F. Connolly reset the deadline to March 14 for Swirlate IP LLC, a plaintiff tied to Texas monetization firm IP Edge LLC, to produce to the court documents related to whether its counsel—Chong Firm PA and David R. Bennett of Direction IP Law—obtained informed consent from Swirlate before filing and settling cases on its behalf. This past week, Swirlate made that production to the court, its counsel submitting a letter, partially redacted on the docket, that characterizes the purpose of the court’s retained jurisdiction as an “ethics investigation” that must be conducted confidentially and that maintains assertions of privilege (attorney-client and “community of interest”, as well as the attorney-work product doctrine) over some of the documents sought.

Delaware Chief Judge Colm F. Connolly has dismissed a declaratory judgment action filed by Power Integrations against Texas monetization firm IP Edge LLC; its “consulting” arm MAVEXAR LLC; an IP Edge-tied plaintiff Waverly Licensing LLC; and an IP Edge-tied intermediary Array IP LLC. The court notes that the complaint in question contains only a claim for a declaratory judgment of noninfringement of a single wireless charging patent, a claim mooted by the pack of covenants not to sue granted to Power Integrations by the four named defendants. Given the language of the dismissal memorandum, had Power Integrations pleaded “a RICO count with mail or wire fraud predicates”, the outcome might have been different.

Recorded patent assignments recently made public reveal patents on the move, to an NPE that appears to be collecting assets from a familiar source as prior litigated patents run into PTAB trouble; to an entity managed by what appears to be a relatively new monetization operation standing up; to a recent entrant into the litigation funding space; to entities associated with a frequent plaintiff-side law firm in Texas; and to a host of other plaintiffs recently filing suit.

Delaware Chief Judge Colm F. Connolly has recently returned attention to certain plaintiffs that had filed cases before him, cases that became tied up in concerns about compliance with his April 2022 standing orders late that year but had been sliding under the radar. In mid-January, the court questioned two attorneys about representation of an additional pair of plaintiffs tied to Texas monetization firm IP Edge LLC, subsequently ordering one of those plaintiffs to produce to the court a set of documents designed to determine whether ethical violations occurred in the conduct of the suits before him. Separately, the court set a status conference in a case filed by MISSED CALL, LLC, requiring counsel to appear in person, after that plaintiff began suing the same defendants elsewhere. Now, events have stalled both inquiries.

Bishop Display Tech LLC has filed two cases against LG Display, LG Electronics (LGE), and WOOREE BIO (New Optics) together in a pair of Eastern District of Texas complaints (2:24-cv-00084, 2:24-cv-00085) and Heesung Electronics in another pair of complaints (2:24-cv-00086, 2:24-cv-00087) in the same district. The plaintiff, managed by the three principals of Texas monetization firm IP Edge LLC, targets the provision of thin-film-transistor liquid-crystal displays (TFT-LCDs), as well as products incorporating the accused TFT-LCDs (e.g., liquid crystal modules (LCMs), monitors, smartphones, tablets, and TVs).

Recently recorded patent assignments made public by the USPTO contain noteworthy transfers to multiple plaintiffs now in litigation, including a new source of patents for Apex Beam Technologies LLC, a new source of patents for Pantech Corporation, and a familiar source of patent rights for Crystal Leap Zrt, this time assigning patents directly, though. Movement can also be seen from troubled patent monetization firm IP Edge LLC, as well as movement from various sources to patent broker Allied Security Trust. Take a look.