Hamilcar Barca IP LLC is a Longhorn IP LLC entity holding a portfolio of former MediaTek patents. It has now filed its first affirmative lawsuit, accusing NVIDIA (1:25-cv-00620) in a new Western District of Texas complaint of infringing two of them, one described as directed to “processing noise interference according to an error feedback mechanism of a Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (‘SATA’)”; the other, to computing systems operating in multiple security environments. The respective accused products are “any device or system implementing SATAv3 or later, including but not limited to the NVIDIA SN2000 switch and NVIDIA DGX Systems” and “the ARMv8-A-compliant data or central processing units, and other systems and devices made, imported, or sold by NVIDIA supporting the ARMv8-A or later architecture”.

Last week, RPX noted several patent transfers as the first quarter of 2025 drew to a close. Given the lag between execution and public revelation, such Q1 2025 assignments will continue to trickle in. For example, per USPTO assignment records even more recently made public, the latest portfolio touted by a longtime Texas monetization firm has taken shape. Also, two entities that have already filed suit over previously acquired US patent assets have received top-off divestitures from their same respective sources.  

Through multiple August 2021 assignments, HANNIBAL IP LLC received 35 US patents, together with foreign counterparts, from FG Innovation Company Ltd. (f/k/a FG IP Innovation Company Ltd.) (FGI). It has now filed its first US suit over those assets, accusing Samsung (4:25-cv-00200) in an Eastern District of Texas complaint of infringing four of them. The asserted patents, broadly directed to wireless communications, are described as “essential to practicing the 3GPP 5G Standard”, with the provision of Galaxy-series smartphones that support that standard in the crosshairs. HANNIBAL IP, a Longhorn IP LLC plaintiff, pleads that the alleged infringement has been willful, indicating that it sent a notice letter to Samsung as early as June 2022.

Longhorn IP LLC has added a portfolio to the patent holdings identified on its public website. Each portfolio is held by an entity typically named after something or someone from the ancient world, particularly from Carthaginian culture. The new portfolio is—or will be—held by Mago Barca IP LLC, an entity formed in Texas last month. Longhorn IP describes the portfolio as relating to “Semiconductor Manufacturing, Packaging”.

Hermes IP Management LLC has become the latest entity tied to Texas monetization firm Longhorn IP LLC to file US litigation. In a new Eastern District of Texas complaint, Hermes IP has accused Samsung (2:24-cv-00540) of infringing three former SK Telecom patents through the provision of mobile devices featuring audio noise cancellation, multiple home screens, and/or image geotagging and navigation features. Longhorn IP has made headlines recently for its appeal to the Federal Circuit of the requirement that it post a bond under Idaho’s “Bad-Faith Patent Assertion” law, in litigation against Micron.

The fight over a set of state laws punishing bad-faith patent assertion is heating up before the Federal Circuit. In June 2023, monetization firm Longhorn IP LLC and affiliate Katana Silicon Technologies LLC filed an appeal over one such law in Idaho, both seeking to overturn an $8M bond imposed against them under that statute in litigation with Micron—apparently the first time such a bond has been ordered—and to invalidate the statute as preempted by federal patent law. Now, as Micron and Idaho lay out their positions in response briefs, they have received additional support: 27 other states and the District of Columbia have sought leave to file an amicus brief in support of upholding Idaho’s law, as have two industry associations.

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.

Eastern District of Texas Judge Rodney Gilstrap has granted a request by L2 Mobile Technologies LLC, a Longhorn IP LLC plaintiff, to file a new complaint against OnePlus (2:23-cv-00087) under seal, a redacted version of that pleading appearing on the docket several days later. The public version reveals some parallels with a sealed complaint that L2 Mobile filed in Delaware against TCL (TCT Mobile) last fall: the assertion of three allegedly standard essential patents (although not the same three patents) together with requests for declaratory judgments that L2 Mobile complied with its commitment to offer a license under fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory (FRAND) terms and that the defendant “has acted in bad faith, is an unwilling licensee, has breached its obligation to negotiate in a FRAND manner, and has forfeited and exhausted any and all rights as a third-party beneficiary under a FRAND contract and to a FRAND license”.

Delaware District Judge Richard G. Andrews has granted a motion by plaintiff L2 Mobile Technologies LLC to file its latest complaint (and associated exhibits) under seal. The defendant is TCL (TCT Mobile) (1:22-cv-01306), with L2 Mobile contending that the complaint contains information falling under a May 2019 confidentiality agreement between the parties, as it allegedly discloses information related to negotiations over a potential patent license and specific terms from that potential license. Three wireless communications patents are at issue in the case, including patents that L2 Mobile has alleged to be essential to the practice of the 3G standard.

This summer saw the escalation of a long-running fight between Longhorn IP LLC and Micron, with the latter’s July suit accusing the monetization firm of violating a largely untested Idaho law barring bad-faith patent assertion—seeking both damages from Longhorn IP and asking the court to impose a $15M bond against it. Now, as the defendant pushes forward on a motion to dismiss arguing that the law is unconstitutional, the state of Idaho has intervened in the statute’s defense, arguing that the law is narrowly tailored enough to avoid preemption by federal patent law.