After three attempts to sue the manufacturer of Anker’s Roav SmartCharge Car Kit, Hailo Technologies, LLC has changed tacks, this time accusing retailers Best Buy (4:20-cv-00025), Target (4:20-cv-00026), and WalMart (4:20-cv-00024) of infringement through sales of the devices. The plaintiff first sued Roav in January 2018, shifting to Anker by amended complaint in that same case, which was dismissed for improper service. Hailo then, in May of last year, tried suing Anker in the Western District of Washington but voluntarily dismissed the suit, without prejudice, after Anker reiterated by letter that it is “a holding company registered in Hong Kong and does not have an agent for service of process in the United States”—the standoff triggering the current retailer suits.

Hailo Technologies, LLC has recently revived two of its three litigation campaigns to date and may yet revive the third. The NPE just added a case against Safr Technologies (1:19-cv-01139) to a June case against Juno (1:19-cv-01139) and May cases against Curb Mobility (1:19-cv-00945), Flywheel Software (1:19-cv-00949), and Via Transportation (1:19-cv-00946) in a campaign over a taxi dispatch patent that emerged from a reexamination triggered by Hailo itself with all claims found patentable as amended to avoid patent-ineligibility under Alice. In the second campaign, Hailo has recently added suits against Anker Innovations (2:19-cv-00751) and Moovn Technologies (2:19-cv-00958) over a patent generally related to locating a parked vehicle. In the third campaign, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) handed down a final written decision in an inter partes review (IPR) that found no challenged claims of a different taxi dispatch patent unpatentable under the arguments presented in a petition filed by Unified Patents.

RPX took notice, among the USPTO assignment records made available during the first half of August, of transactions involving recently asserted patents (e.g. to an affiliate of IP Edge LLC) as well as at least one assignment suggesting that new litigation is coming (i.e. to Red Dragon Innovations, LLC). August has also seen clean-up activity by Intellectual Ventures LLC in an ongoing automotive campaign.

RPX took notice, among the assignment records published by the USPTO during the latter half of June, of the transfer of patents to several repeat players in patent litigation, including IP Edge LLC and Cerinet USA Inc. Also of note were two NPE-to-NPE transactions, from Intellectual Ventures LLC to IQ Holdings, LLC, and between M2M Solutions LLC and Blackbird Tech LLC.

RPX took notice, among the USPTO assignment records made available during the first half of June, of patent transfers to a number of frequent plaintiffs in patent litigation, including Blackbird Tech LLC; IP Valuation Partners LLC; and Monument Patent Holdings, LLC. Assignees also included Intellectual Ventures LLC, Longhorn IP LLC, and several NPEs associated with California attorney Daniel Cotman. Dongbu HiTek and Sharp were among the assignors.

Hailo Technologies, LLC (d/b/a BRING) has opened up a second vehicle-for-hire campaign, asserting a single patent (5,973,619) against Lyft (2:17-cv-03028) and Uber (2:17-cv-03031) in the Central District of California. The ‘619 patent generally relates to a taxi dispatch and payment system, comprising a family of one, and Hailo Technologies accuses the defendants of infringement through their provision of their ride-sharing platforms. Hailo Technologies was formed in California on November 17, 2016, with Daniel Cotman of Cotman IP Law Group, PLC as its agent. In disclosures filed with the court, Hailo Technologies is identified as a subsidiary of Red Dragon Innovations, LLC, which is also affiliated with Cotman and was also formed in California in November 2016.

RPX took note, among the USPTO assignment records made available during the second half of March 2017, of the transfer of hundreds of patents to two Wi-LAN Inc. subsidiaries, one of which has not yet filed suit. Also noted are assignments of patents to Monument Patent Holdings, LLC, to Intellectual Ventures LLC, and to Xperi Corporation, among others.