Throughout the last few years, prolific inventor and patent plaintiff Leigh M. Rothschild has consistently remained one of the top filers of NPE litigation. 2019 was no different. Last year saw over 160 defendants added to campaigns launched by plaintiffs associated with Rothschild, the campaigns spanning a wide range of technologies and now involving suits filed (and typically litigated in file-and-settle fashion) in myriad districts. A quick glance at the plaintiff’s early 2020 filings suggest that this year will see more of the same.

Digital Verification Systems, LLC, one of Leigh M. Rothschild’s many litigating NPEs, has filed new suits against Clover Network (2:17-cv-00153), PayAnywhere (2:17-cv-00154), PayPal (2:17-cv-00152), and Square (2:17-cv-00150). Digital Verification continues to assert a single patent (9,054,860) generally related to embedding a unique identifier in a document, and the new complaints target point-of-sale (POS) terminals and/or card reader products. The dismissal with prejudice of the lawsuit against Adobe, the last defendant from the first round of May 2016 cases, appears to have motivated Digital Verification to keep its campaign alive by filing against the latest set.

Rothschild Connected Devices Innovations, LLC (RCDI), one of the litigating NPEs of prolific named inventor and plaintiff Leigh M. Rothschild, continues to add cases to its campaign, asserting both one patent (8,788,090) that has been at issue since the first cases, filed in February 2015, and the ‘090 patent’s earliest issuing relative (7,899,713). The patents generally relate to remotely customizing a consumer product based on user preferences. The new defendants are Garmin (2:17-cv-00158) and Lenovo (Motorola Mobility) (2:17-cv-00159), and the accused products are Garmin’s activity tackers (e.g the Garmin VivoActive HR) and Motorola Mobility’s smartwatches (e.g. the Moto 360). It appears that RCDI began asserting the ‘713 patent after two petitions for inter partes review (IPR) were filed in early 2016, the first one filed by RPX, challenging certain claims of the ‘090 patent.

Digital Verification Systems, LLC, one of the many NPEs managed by inventor Leigh M. Rothschild, has filed three more lawsuits asserting a single patent (9,054,860) generally related to embedding a unique identifier in a document. Accused are the e-signature products on the websites of the new defendants, HelloSign (2:16-cv-01006), Serfiti (2:16-cv-01008), and SignEasy (2:16-cv-01007). This set of complaints follows a wave of cases filed in May 2016.

This month has so far seen two new litigation campaigns launched by NPEs controlled by Leigh M. Rothschild. First came Scanning Technologies Innovations, LLC (STI), which sued ERPLY (2:16-cv-00487), First Data (Clover Network) (2:16-cv-00500), NCR (2:16-cv-00488), Realtime POS (2:16-cv-00490), Revel Systems (2:16-cv-00492), Shopify (2:16-cv-00501), Quetzal POS (2:16-cv-00486), and Vend (2:16-cv-00504) between May 10-13. On May 12, Digital Verification Systems, LLC (DVS) filed suit against Adobe (2:16-cv-00495), Barracuda Networks (2:16-cv-00496), Citrix (2:16-cv-00497), and Docusign (2:16-cv-00499). This month’s infringement suits are the first filed by STI and DVS.