During the first half of February, RPX saw the recordation with the USPTO of multiple past assignments of patent assets to various NPEs, including multiple entities affiliated with California attorney Kevin Zilka’s Oso IP, LLC recording the past assignment of patent assets between them, assets originally received from Hard Data Factory (online data scraping), Go2 Media (mobile media), or InstantBull (content aggregation). As usual, several of the other noted transfers involved apparent affiliates of Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV), which records made available during this period reveal has received patent assets generally related to three-dimensional data modeling (received from DeltaSphere) and mobile payment platforms (received from Mocapay).

Wavestar Communications Systems LLC has sued Fortinet (2:16-cv-01482) over a single patent (8,391,915) generally related to wireless networks with overlapping cells. The NPE accuses of infringement Fortinet products and services that determine when a mobile device moves out of one cell into another, including Fortinet’s Infrastructure Wi-Fi Suite, which came to Fortinet through its July 2015 acquisition of Meru Networks. Wavestar’s is one of eight litigation campaigns, in disparate technical fields, initiated by entities managed by Erik Stamell, now the president of NPE Equitable IP Corporation, since November 2015.

Virtual Immersion Technologies LLC has moved from suing purveyors of online adult entertainment to companies providing more general “interactive, real time, virtual reality systems”, adding Comcast (NBC Universal Media) (2:16-cv-01311), Hyatt Hotels (2:16-cv-01309), and TATA Motors (Jaguar Land Rover) (2:16-cv-01310) to the litigation campaign that it began in September. The NPE, managed by the president of Equitable IP Corporation, Erik Stamell, continues to assert a single patent (6,409,599), generally related to virtual reality entertainment systems.

RPX took note of eleven patent transfers to NPEs recorded during the first half of November 2016. Assignees included entities controlled by Wi-LAN, Inc.; Marathon Patent Holdings, LLC; or IP Valuation Partners LLC; NPEs apparently affiliated with Intellectual Ventures LLC or Equitable IP Corporation; and entities managed by Erik Stamell, Leigh M. Rothschild, or Nicolas J. Labbit. Also this month, BlackBird Tech LLC, which has waged 11 litigation campaigns to date, acquired a patent that was asserted against 70 companies in a large NPE campaign that closed earlier this year.

Post Media Systems LLC has kept its sole litigation campaign alive, filing suit against SoundCloud (2:16-cv-01269) after a September settlement with iHeartMedia and an October settlement with Spotify. All patents in a family of five (7,069,310; 7,472,175; 8,015,263; 8,725,832; 8,959,181) are asserted in the new complaint, subsets having been asserted against the prior two defendants. The family generally relates to managing media files for playback over a computer network, with the defendants accused of infringement through the provision of their music and radio online services and related apps. Post Media’s is one of seven litigation campaigns, in disparate technical fields, initiated by entities managed by Erik Stamell, now the president of NPE Equitable IP Corporation, since November 2015.

As predicted, Virtual Immersion Technologies LLC, a Texas NPE managed by Erik Stamell, has launched a litigation campaign. This week, the NPE filed suits against three purveyors of online adult entertainment: Aplicaciones Para Realidad Virtual (2:16-cv-01025), Secure Live Media (2:16-cv-01022), and Txtme TV (2:16-cv-01024). The new complaints assert a single virtual reality entertainment patent (6,409,599) that RPX saw assigned to Virtual Immersion in February in an August 16, 2016 recordation with the USPTO.

During the second half of August 2016, RPX saw five patent transfers to NPEs recorded with the USPTO. The assignees were Virtual Immersion Technologies LLC (controlled by Erik Stamell, of Equitable IP Corporation); Clean Energy Management Solutions, LLC (a subsidiary of Monument Patent Holdings, LLC); an NPE created by IP Valuation Partners LLC; and subsidiaries of two publicly traded NPEs—Wi-LAN, Inc. and Pendrell Corporation.

High Frequency Trading Systems LLC (HFTS) has filed four new cases in the campaign it began in late 2015, asserting a single patent (7,231,363) generally related to electronically managing the exchange of financial instruments. Knight Capital (KCG BondPoint) (2:16-cv-13082), Liquidnet (2:16-cv-13077), MarketAxess Holdings (2:16-cv-13052), and MTS Markets (2:16-cv-13084) are accused of infringement through provision of online trading platforms. HFTS’s new filings provide just one example of the recent activities of its manager, Erik Stamell.

In the second half of June 2016, RPX saw over 20 patent transfers to NPEs recorded with the USPTO. A number of those transactions involved patents that have been asserted in litigation against operating companies—some as recently as this past week.

ASUS (1:16-cv-00576), Bank of America (1:16-cv-00574), Cisco (1:16-cv-00577), IBM (1:16-cv-00578), and Ericsson (1:16-cv-00575) are the latest defendants to be added to the litigation campaign of Digital Audio Encoding Systems, LLC (DAES). A single digital signal encoding patent (7,490,037) is at issue, with the latest defendants accused of infringement through the manufacture and sale of Android devices (smartphones, tablets, wearables, etc.) pre-installed with Google Music Play (ASUS and Ericsson) or the use of Cisco’s WebEx collaboration product (Bank of America, Cisco, and IBM). DAES is one of multiple entities recently formed by Erik Stamell, four of which have so far launched litigation.