Phenix Longhorn, LLC has filed suit against Samsung (2:24-cv-01077) in the Eastern District of Texas. The case has been assigned to District Judge Robert W. Schroeder III, who is presiding over the plaintiff’s other two active cases, one against AUO Corporation (f/k/a AU Optronics Corporation), together with Hisense (Hisense Electrónica México, S.A. de C.V. (“Hisense Mexico”), Hisense USA, Hisense Visual Technology); and the other against InnoLux. Both were filed in October 2023, after Phenix Longhorn acquired funding, and both have been somewhat bogged down in the earlier stages of litigation.

As predicted, the backing of the same established litigation funder has led to new litigation on three fronts, from otherwise unrelated plaintiffs, including an inventor-controlled LLC and a digital commerce company, each of which has launched a new campaign over the past couple of weeks, and now from Phenix Longhorn, LLC as well. This past week, a funded Phenix Longhorn revived a dormant campaign by suing AU Optronics (AUO) and Hisense (Hisense Electrónica México, S.A. de C.V. (“Hisense Mexico”)) (2:23-cv-00477) and InnoLux (2:23-cv-00478) over the provision of LCD (liquid crystal display) panels that allegedly utilize programmable gamma integrated circuits, or “Pgamma chips” and that are incorporated into televisions sold under a wide range of brand names.

Phenix, LLC (again using past assumed name Phenix Longhorn, LLC) has filed suit against Texas Instruments (TI) (2:18-cv-00020) over a single patent generally related to an integrated circuit for LCD color correction. The complaint accuses TI of infringement through the provision of integrated circuits that allegedly implement the plaintiff’s “programmable gamma (PGamma) correction” technology, with those chips purportedly used in certain Apple iMacs and in certain televisions manufactured by either LG Electronics, Philips, Samsung, or Toshiba. Phenix’s new suit follows a recent dismissal in a case filed against VIZIO, after roughly a year of litigation that ended with an Eastern District of Texas order transferring the case to the Central District of California for improper venue under TC Heartland.

Texas-based NPE Phenix Longhorn, LLC has filed suit against Vizio (6:17-cv-00010), accusing the company of infringing a single patent (7,233,305) generally related to an integrated circuit for LCD color correction. At issue in the complaint are Vizio televisions with LCD panel modules made by AU Optronics that include an allegedly infringing timing control board (a component that controls the data signal received by a display and regulates the display’s refresh rate). While this is Phenix Longhorn’s first litigation in its own right, the NPE’s California-based parent, Phenix, LLC, previously asserted the ‘305 patent in a single case against Exar and subsidiary Integrated Memory Logic (IML) (6:15-cv-00436).