On January 31, 2024, FG Innovation Company Ltd. (f/k/a FG IP Innovation Company Ltd.) (FGI) divested a portfolio of 35 assets, including 30 issued US patents, to a Texas entity, which moved the portfolio to a second Texas LLC the next day. This FGI divestiture is the sixth to an apparent US NPE since May 2021, to date four of the prior five recipients having launched litigation over the patents received.

5G IP Holdings LLC, an entity associated with Texas monetization firm IPValuation Partners LLC (d/b/a IPVal), has sued Apple (5:23-cv-03905) in a Northern District of California complaint that targets the provision of certain iPads and iPhones over their alleged 5G connectivity. The plaintiff asserts three patents originating with FG Innovation Company Ltd. (f/k/a FG IP Innovation Company Ltd.) (FGI), which is identified as a nonparty having an interest in the outcome of the litigation. Much of the new pleading is devoted to a purported timeline of contacts between the parties stretching from March 2022 through August 2023.

As anticipated, Texas NPE 5G IP Holdings LLC, an entity associated with monetization firm IPValuation Partners LLC (d/b/a IPVal), has filed its first lawsuit over a portfolio of former FG Innovation Company Ltd. (f/k/a FG IP Innovation Company Ltd.) (FGI) patents. The NPE accuses Samsung (4:21-cv-00622) of infringing three of them, pleading that the wireless communications patents have been declared essential to the 5G Standard, the “promise” of which—“increased bandwidth and lowered latency”—FGI’s technology purportedly helped to “deliver”. The accused products are Samsung’s smartphones and tablets, the new complaint identifying a list of Galaxy-branded products.

In late May, RPX reported the creation of a wide range of new entities by familiar NPEs. One of those, an entity associated with Texas monetization firm IPValuation Partners LLC (d/b/a IPVal), has just recorded the assignment of ten US patents, as well as additional applications, generally related to wireless networking and naming as inventors individuals identifying themselves as having previously worked with the Foxconn Advanced Communication Academy (FACA), a research operation established as part of a 5G initiative of Hon Hai Precision Industry.

Public records reflect a rash of NPE creation in recent months, including by some of the most active patent monetizers in the IP space today. If past practices are precedent, patent assignments to these recently formed NPEs are likely in the pipeline—followed by the launch of new litigation campaigns later this year.