In addition to the announced divestiture of a large tranche of VoIP patents from Avaya to Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC, March 2024 saw several other operating companies—including DXC Technology, Huawei, and SOLiD—unload patent assets. Several NPE enterprises also moved patents around, internally or to other NPEs, seemingly in preparation for new assertion campaigns.

Briefing is now complete on a motion to intervene brought by BMW in the District of Delaware case that Arigna Technology Limited, a plaintiff operating under the umbrella of Dublin-based monetization firm Atlantic IP Services Limited, filed against Longford Capital Fund III, LP (“LCF”), an entity controlled by Chicago-based litigation finance firm Longford Capital, this past December. Arigna and Longford dispute the extent to which the latter is owed proceeds from a “global settlement” with an unnamed defendant sued across litigation run by multiple Atlantic IP-tied plaintiffs, not just Arigna. BMW has jumped in based on allegations that a “German court will be expected to award BMW from Arigna . . . between $380,000 and $1.1 million” in costs and fees there and that “Arigna has demonstrated an ability and willingness to reduce its capital abroad to insulate itself from paying fees to BMW in Germany”. BMW further argues that its involvement in this case is necessary because it is “the only party interested in shedding light on the possible violation of Irish champerty litigation financing laws” here.

Arigna Technology Limited, one of more than a dozen plaintiffs associated with Dublin-based patent monetization firm Atlantic IP Services Limited, has filed a complaint for declaratory judgment against litigation finance firm Longford Capital. Surprisingly, a complete and unredacted copy of a funding agreement between Longford and Arigna’s litigation counsel, Susman Godfrey, LLP, was included as an exhibit to Arigna’s December 18 complaint (which has since been sealed), providing a look at the budget for an expansive patent litigation effort that has targeted automotive makers as well as mobile device makers across multiple venues in the US and Germany.