Since late last year, RPX has flagged three batches of security agreements—each batch covering six different patent portfolios—all apparently involving the same third-party funder. Of the 18 funded patent portfolios, all but one has spawned new litigation campaigns, four having started last month. Meanwhile, public records provide hints as to the possible identity of the funder here—helpful hints, since the plaintiffs litigating in the Northern District of California or the District of New Jersey have apparently skirted, so far, respective disclosure requirements in those venues.

Throughout late 2021, RPX reported new litigation initiated by an apparently unrelated group of plaintiffs that had granted security interests in their portfolios to the same funder. Now, a second batch of security agreements, involving a different set of six patent holders, has been recorded with the USPTO—suggesting that a new wave of financed campaigns is coming. In fact, one of those campaigns began this week.

The Receivership Estate of AudienceScience Inc., together with its general receiver Revitalization Partners LLC, have sued Alphabet (Google, YouTube) (6:21-cv-01209) over the provision of targeted advertisement systems that utilize certain data collection and user profiling practices. Three patents broadly directed to providing an advertisement on a webpage based on a user’s “page request history” are asserted in the Western District of Texas complaint. Both state and USPTO records suggest that the litigation has been funded by a third party now connected to multiple recent patent suits, as well as to at least one entity that has collected patents but has yet to sue.