Recorded assignments recently made public by the USPTO reveal batches of US patents, one generally related to multi-display devices and another to drug delivery devices, on the move, to entities tied to experienced monetization teams—teams that have apparently secured the backing of the same prominent litigation funder. One of those entities is already in litigation, over previously received patents from the same source, while the other appears headed in that direction.

The same day that the February 2024 case that Avant Location Technologies LLC filed against Samsung was dismissed with prejudice, after a noticed settlement, the plaintiff filed a new complaint against Apple (2:24-cv-00757), asserting the same seven patents. Per Avant, “the Accused Products are Apple products that implement Find My, which include, but are not limited to, iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Apple Watch, Mac, AirPods, AirTag, Apple Pencil, and Apple Vision Pro”. Litigation remains active against the other two defendants in this campaign: Generac (ecobee), which has yet to respond to a July 2023 complaint; and Fibar Group, which filed an answer on August 28, 2024.

Funded plaintiff Active Wireless Technologies LLC has filed a second pair of Eastern District of Texas suits, one against each of Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile) (2:24-cv-00723) and Verizon (Verizon Wireless) (2:24-cv-00724). In the ongoing litigation, in which Ericsson and Nokia have intervened, Chief Judge Rodney Gilstrap denied as premature motions to stay in light of inter partes review (IPR) of the asserted patents—the PTAB has yet to return institution decisions in response to the petitions filed. All the patents here in suit were received from FG Innovation Company Ltd. (f/k/a FG IP Innovation Company Ltd.) (FGI).

Advanced Coding Technologies LLC (ACT) has filed a second suit against Apple (2:24-cv-00687), in which it asserts three patents that it added to its case against Alphabet (Google) through an early August amended complaint. Now in suit against both defendants are the same six patents, which overlap with subsets of a larger portfolio received from JVCKenwood, subsets asserted in cases against Bytedance, LG Electronics (LGE) and Samsung. Still active, the case against Samsung is closing in on trial, although Samsung has just notified Eastern District of Texas Chief Judge Rodney Gilstrap that its renewed motion to stay the suit to await appeals from various inter partes reviews (IPRs) is now fully briefed.

As RPX recently noted, on June 25, 2024, Suzhou Lekin Semiconductor Co. Ltd. (d/b/a LEKIN) transferred 27 US patents to Light Guide Innovations LLC, which has now accused TCL (TCT Mobile and multiple subsidiaries) (2:24-cv-00646) of infringing 14 of its received assets, described by the plaintiff as covering “systems and methods related to LED lighting and image enhancement for televisions and displays”. Targeting the provision of displays and TVs that incorporate LED, QLED, and QD-MINI LED lighting technologies, Light Guide has backing from a prominent litigation funder.

In a new Eastern District of Texas complaint, Advanced Coding Technologies LLC (ACT) has accused Apple (2:24-cv-00572) of infringing the same three data coding patents asserted against Alphabet (Google) in a May 2024 complaint in the same district. The three patents, received as part of a larger set received from JVCKenwood in February 2022, are a subset of those asserted in the other active case in this campaign; ACT and Samsung are currently briefing dispositive and other pretrial motions before Eastern District of Texas Chief Judge Rodney Gilstrap.

Three transfers of US patents recently recorded with the USPTO and made public—one from an optoelectronics company to an entity in a growing family of funded plaintiffs, one from an individual inventor who ended a litigation campaign last September, and one of former NEC assets passing through a Singaporean entity to a potential Delaware plaintiff—all bear watching over the coming months.

Avant Location Technologies LLC launched its sole litigation campaign this past July with a suit against Generac (ecobee) in the Eastern District of Texas. Now, the plaintiff has sued Samsung (2:24-cv-00133) in the same district. The seven asserted patents, five of which are making their litigation debut, generally relate to a system for providing “presence related services” to a designated “special area” through a linked mobile station. Samsung is targeted over a wide array of devices, including earphones, smartphones, smart watches, and tablets, that support the SmartThings Find feature.

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.

Third-party funded Active Wireless Technologies LLC has filed suit over four wireless communications patents from a portfolio received from FG Innovation Company Ltd. (f/k/a FG IP Innovation Company Ltd.) (FGI) this past March. Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile) (2:23-cv-00261) is accused of infringement through the provision of cellular networks that implement Narrowband-IoT (NB-IoT) technologies, as well as related products, with compliance with various 3GPP standards at issue throughout. FGI has farmed out batches of patents to five NPEs, four of which have now filed litigation over the received assets in the US.