BMW and Robert Bosch (1:24-cv-00363) have filed a declaratory judgment (DJ) action in the Eastern District of Virginia against Foras Technologies Limited—a plaintiff associated with Dublin-based monetization firm Atlantic IP Services Limited—seeking judgments of invalidity and noninfringement of one patent generally related to protecting against “loss of lockstep” in processors. The complaint is part of the companies’ response to an affirmative complaint filed against them in the Western District of Texas, where parallel motions to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction and for pleading inadequacies have been fully briefed.

The latest complaint filed by Foras Technologies Limited continues to expand its allegations of infringement in the automotive industry over patents received from HP Enterprise (HPE) in April 2020. Volkswagen, together with suppliers Aptiv and Valeo (2:23-cv-00314), are accused of infringing one of those patents through the provision of Audi and Volkswagen-series automobiles that incorporate the Aptiv Central Driver Assistance Controller (alleged to contain a certain Infineon chipset) and/or the Valeo Front Camera (alleged contain a certain Renesas chipset). Earlier this month, Foras hit Nissan, together with ZF, which case followed complaints filed against Toyota and DENSO (this past April), Kia (in May, for inclusion of components allegedly provided by Mando or HELLA, neither named as a defendant), and BMW, together Robert Bosch (also in May), all of them identifying chipsets from either Infineon or Renesas allegedly incorporated into components of accused automobiles.

An RPX review of public records indicates that the second quarter of 2023 saw at least eight new patent infringement campaigns launched with the backing of third-party litigation funding. Also in Q2, several already existing third-party financed campaigns grew larger, with the plaintiffs hitting new defendants and/or going after familiar targets for a second or even third time.

Foras Technologies Limited has expanded the litigation campaign that it began in early April with an Eastern District of Texas complaint against DENSO and Toyota. The Atlantic IP Services Limited plaintiff asserts one of three patents at issue in those previous suits in new cases, one filed in the same district, against Kia (2:23-cv-00219) and the other filed in the Western District of Texas, against BMW and Robert Bosch (6:23-cv-00386). That patent, originally developed at HP, generally relates to technologies for protecting against “loss of lockstep” in processors, with Foras targeting Kia over the provision of automobiles incorporating a Mando MRR-20 Mid-Range Radar and/or Hella RS4 Lane Change Assist Radar, both of which are alleged to contain the Infineon SAK-TC264DA chipset; BMW and Robert Bosch, over the provision of “the BMW X3, X4, and X5, which include a Bosch Electronic Control Unit (containing Infineon TriCore TC29XX chipsets)”.

BlackBerry’s sale of 32,000 patent assets to a Key Patent Innovations Limited sub this month has dominated discussion around patent divestures to NPEs. However, in the background, a number of smaller transactions involving operating company patents have recently come to light, some notable by virtue of their new owner’s ties to third-party litigation funding. At least one of those transactions has already resulted in new NPE litigation.

Foras Technologies Limited has launched the twentieth litigation campaign associated with Dublin-based monetization firm Atlantic IP Services Limited. In an Eastern District of Texas complaint, Foras accuses DENSO and Toyota (2:23-cv-00150) of infringing three patents through the provision of various Toyota automobiles incorporating certain DENSO cameras, Electronic Control Units (ECUs), and front radars, further identifying certain Infineon and Renesas chipsets in the accused DENSO products without naming either provider as a defendant.

USPTO assignment records recently made public reveal not only a new Atlantic IP Services Limited entity, but the move to that Irish entity of five firmware/processor operations patents that sister subsidiary Sonraí Memory Limited picked up from HP Enterprise in April 2020. The former operating company patents held and asserted by the Dublin-based monetization team, with ties to Magnetar Capital, are piling up.