During the first half of October 2016, RPX took note of five patent transfers to NPEs. Two of those NPEs, Forward Thinking Tracking LLC and Guada Technologies LLC, have already launched new campaigns asserting recently received patents, collectively filing nearly 30 cases so far this month.

Texas NPE Forward Thinking Tracking LLC has kicked off its first litigation campaign with a series of lawsuits filed over the last week targeting the real time location systems and asset tracking products of multiple defendants. The new complaints hit AeroScout (with alleged partners and distributors Extronics, Exloc Instruments, IoEworx, Stanley Black & Decker, and Vizzia Technologies) (2:16-cv-01172), AiRISTA Flow (with the alleged former owner of the accused system, Ekahau) (2:16-cv-01141), CenTrak (with Vizzia) (2:16-cv-01125), Elpas (with Sensormatic Electronics d/b/a Tyco Security Products) (2:16-cv-01143), RF Code (2:16-cv-01168), Savi Technology (2:16-cv-01169), TeleTracking Technologies (2:16-cv-01173), Vestac (2:16-cv-01174), and Zebra Technologies (ZIH) (2:16-cv-01175). Each complaint asserts a single patent (6,989,741) generally related to object tracking.

For the third week running, Texas-based NPE Marking Object Virtualization Intelligence, LLC (MOVI) has continued to expand its new digital rights management (DRM) campaign, filing a further seven suits against F5 Networks, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), and Trend Micro (2:16-cv-01115); Huawei (2:16-cv-01097); Kudelski (Civolution, NexGuard) (2:16-cv-01099); NEC (2:16-cv-01103); Sonus Networks (2:16-cv-01100); STMicroelectronics (2:16-cv-01113); and Xilinx (2:16-cv-01109). As in previous filings, these complaints assert various combinations of patents from a group of 17 that the NPE acquired from Rovi Corporation in July, prior to the latter’s name change to TiVo Corporation. MOVI characterizes the subject matter of the portfolio as related to DRM and digital watermarking. A variety of accused products are at issue: F5 Networks, HPE, Huawei, NEC, and Trend Micro are alleged to infringe through various types of networking hardware and software, Kudelski through its forensic watermarking (i.e. piracy tracking) software, HPE and Sonus Networks through their web-based communications software, STMicroelectronics through microcontrollers and systems-on-a-chip (SOCs), and Xilinx through its Vivado chip design software.

During the second half of September 2016, RPX took note of five patent transfers to NPEs. Assignees included Core Wireless Licensing S.a.r.l.; a recently created NPE controlled by the manager of St. Luke Technologies, LLC, Multiplayer Network Innovations, LLC, and Marking Object Virtualization Intelligence, LLC; and an NPE managed by the CEO and general counsel of Personal Audio LLC. One of the transferred patents has already been asserted in a litigation campaign initiated in late September by Listou Search Technologies LLC (a newly formed affiliate of Empire IP LLC), and what has become reliably predictable NPE behavior suggests that the remaining assignees will soon file new patent litigation involving other patents discussed in this report.

Texas NPE Marking Object Virtualization Intelligence, LLC (MOVI) has continued to expand its new digital rights management (DRM) campaign, filing five new lawsuits against Dell, F5 Networks, and SAP (2:16-cv-01066); First Data (2:16-cv-01062); Hitachi (2:16-cv-01055); Koninklijke Philips (2:16-cv-01061); and Symantec (2:16-cv-01056). MOVI first began filing litigation last week and has asserted various combinations of nine patents from a group of over fifteen patents that the NPE acquired from Rovi Corporation in July, prior to that company’s name change to TiVo Corporation. Others hit by MOVI’s initial wave of filings include Arista (2:16-cv-01042), ARRIS (2:16-cv-01045), Barracuda Networks (2:16-cv-01038), Cisco (2:16-cv-01040), Fujitsu (2:16-cv-01046), and SAP (also sued in the same complaint as Fujitsu). All seven new defendants have been accused of infringement through products related to enterprise networking, as in previous complaints, while First Data is also alleged to infringe through its payment terminals, Koninklijke Philips through the provision of smart TVs, and Symantec through its disk imaging software.

In July 2016, Rovi Corporation (before its name change to TiVo Corporation) assigned over 15 US patents to a new, perhaps aptly named Texas NPE Marking Object Virtualization Intelligence, LLC (MOVI), which has now filed suit. MOVI’s new complaints assert five of the assigned patents against Arista (2:16-cv-01042); five against ARRIS (2:16-cv-01045); three against Barracuda Networks (2:16-cv-01038); seven against Cisco (2:16-cv-01040); five against Fujitsu (2:16-cv-01046); and one against SAP (sued in the same complaint as Fujitsu). MOVI broadly characterizes the patents as related to digital rights management and digital watermarking, using a thesaurus of impressive adjectives (“foundational”, “breakthrough”, “fundamental”, “landmark”, “industry-leading”, “groundbreaking”, “trailblazing”, “innovative”, etc.) to describe their alleged contributions to those fields throughout the complaints, which detail the development work of Rovi’s predecessor, Macrovision. Various networking products and services offered by the defendants are the accused products.

In the first half of August 2016, RPX saw five patent transfers to NPEs recorded with the USPTO. Assignees include IP Valuation Partners LLC—affiliates of which have collectively filed nearly 50 patent infringement suits to date—and France Brevets. Also, a newly formed NPE controlled by the manager of Multiplayer Network Innovations, LLC, which in 2014-2015 sued over 25 operating companies, received a patent from Rovi Corporation.