Showing 1 - 10 of 23 news articles
Each week, RPX publishes the latest news on patent litigation and market trends. Never miss a headline. Get them delivered right to your inbox.
Judge Connolly Refers IP Edge “Fraud” Saga to DOJ, USPTO, and State Disciplinary Bodies
Top Insight
Since late last year, Delaware Chief Judge Colm F. Connolly has expressed increasing concerns over the activities of multiple litigating plaintiffs linked to IP Edge LLC and a related consulting firm, MAVEXAR LLC: namely, that by failing to disclose those relationships as required in his courtroom, those entities had possibly committed fraud. However, he has stopped short of detailing the possible ramifications of those actions—until now. On November 27, in a blistering, 105-page order, Judge Connolly found that IP Edge had been the “de facto” owner of the patents asserted by its litigating affiliates and held that the entity and its principals should face “consequences” for their improper attempt to “use separate LLCs to insulate themselves” from liability: He has now called upon the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the USPTO to potentially investigate these misrepresentations. Judge Connolly has also teed up potential punishment for some of the individuals involved: He has referred certain attorneys employed by IP Edge (which is not a law firm) to a Texas disciplinary body for the unauthorized practice of law and has referred the LLCs’ local and lead counsel to state disciplinary bodies for improperly treating IP Edge as their true client.
December 3, 2023
Owner of IP Edge-Linked Plaintiff Seeks Federal Circuit Relief from Contempt Order
Patent Litigation Feature
The ongoing saga between IP Edge LLC and Delaware Chief Judge Colm F. Connolly has reached the Federal Circuit once again. Since June, Judge Connolly has repeatedly ordered Lori LaPray, the owner of IP Edge-linked plaintiff Backertop Licensing LLC, to testify in person about an unusual situation involving the attempted withdrawal of its counsel. LaPray’s subsequent refusals to do so led him to find her in civil contempt of court, imposing a $200 per day fine until she complies with the order. Judge Connolly declined to stay that contempt order earlier this month, expressing skepticism that she would prevail on the merits on appeal. Now, LaPray has filed an emergency motion to stay those fines with the Federal Circuit, taking another pass at some of the same arguments previously rejected by Judge Connolly—including her contention that he lacks the authority to find her in contempt in the first place.
October 28, 2023
$200 Per Day Civil Contempt Fines Still Adding Up
Patent Litigation Feature
Chief Judge Colm F. Connolly has denied a motion to stay the imposition of civil contempt fines in connection with multiple cases that Texas NPE Backertop Licensing LLC affirmatively filed in the District of Delaware. The court ruled that the motion, brought by Backertop and its sole owner, Texas paralegal Lori LaPray, raises arguments that are procedurally barred and substantively wrong. Judge Connolly is skeptical that the position to be advanced in the related appeal is unlikely to prevail because, at least in part, according to that position, “a resident of Hawaii (which is more than 100 miles from any other federal judicial district) could form a shell LLC, give the LLC no assets except for a questionable patent, assert the patent in frivolous infringement lawsuits filed under the LLC’s name in the other 93 federal judicial districts, and have the LLC engage in fraudulent and sanctionable conduct through the course of those suits with impunity”.
October 8, 2023
Judge Connolly Asked to Stay Civil Contempt Order
In Case You Missed It
On August 21, 2023, Chief Judge Colm F. Connolly held in civil contempt the sole owner of an NPE plaintiff that filed multiple affirmative patent cases in Delaware, fining her $200 for every day that the court is open and she fails to appear in person, as previously ordered. Last week, David L. Finger of Finger & Slanina, LLC—counsel for that plaintiff, Backertop Licensing LLC—filed a brief that opens by noting that the court held “non-party Lily [sic] LaPray in civil contempt” before reporting that actual Backertop owner Lori LaPray has appealed the contempt order and asking Judge Connolly to stay imposition of those fines, which the submission estimates could reach $36K by the time the appeal reaches a conclusion.
September 4, 2023
Judge Connolly Fines Owner of NPE Plaintiff for Civil Contempt
Patent Litigation Feature
As perhaps expected, Delaware Chief Judge Colm F. Connolly has held Texas paralegal and NPE owner Lori LaPray in civil contempt for her failure to make a second in-person appearance before him as has been multiple times previously ordered. In the memorandum explaining his reasoning, Judge Connolly repeats his concern, not whether LaPray herself has engaged in fraud but rather “about the possibility that real parties in interest such as [MAVEXAR LLC] and [IP Edge LLC] may have perpetrated a fraud on the court” through their main monetization strategy, which the Texas firms halted last December. As also telegraphed, LaPray and Backertop Licensing LLC (one of her IP Edge-tied NPEs) have appealed the civil contempt finding, which carries a daily price tag that falls well below the court-estimated cost of the one-day trip from Dallas (where LaPray lives) to Judge Connolly’s Delaware courtroom.
August 27, 2023
Show Cause Hearing No-Shows Appear to Tee Up Appellate Review
Patent Litigation Feature
Lori LaPray and Jacob LaPray, the respective sole owners of IP Edge LLC-tied plaintiffs Backertop Licensing LLC and Creekview IP LLC, failed to attend an August 1 hearing addressing the prospect of civil contempt, both responding to the show cause order from Delaware Chief Judge Colm F. Connolly days before. The two LLC plaintiffs—each of which affirmatively filed patent cases in Delaware—and the two LaPrays argued in that written response that Judge Connolly generally “lacks authority to pursue this contempt proceeding”; that “the orders requiring defendants and the LaPrays [sic] are transparently invalid”; and that “the court lacks inherent authority to require theappearance [sic] of [the LaPrays], who live[] more than 100 miles away”. David L. Finger of Finger & Slanina, LLC signed a brief that further argues that “a different judge must be seated to address contempt as the present judge cannot serve as both investigator and judge”. Circumstances here suggest that Backertop, Creekview IP, and the LaPrays may ask the Federal Circuit to intervene should they be held in civil contempt.
August 7, 2023
From the Promise of Passive Investment to the Specter of Civil Contempt
Patent Litigation Feature
Delaware Chief Judge Colm F. Connolly has set an in-person hearing for August 1 at which IP Edge LLC-tied plaintiff Backertop Licensing LLC and its sole owner Lori LaPray “will be afforded the opportunity to show cause for why Ms. LaPray should not be held in civil contempt for failing to comply with” a pair of orders requiring LaPray to appear before the court (in person) last Thursday. New counsel for Backertop David L. Finger of Finger & Slanina, LLC appeared without LaPray, further representing that Jacob LaPray, the sole owner of IP Edge-linked plaintiff Creekview IP LLC would likewise not show up the next day as Judge Connolly had ordered. The August 1 show-cause hearing will also accommodate any arguments from Creekview IP and Jacob as to why the latter should not face civil contempt as well.
July 23, 2023
IP Edge-Linked Plaintiff and Its Sole Owner Defy Judge Connolly
Patent Litigation Feature
Likening ongoing proceedings before Delaware Chief Judge Colm F. Connolly to a “criminal prosecution”, IP Edge LLC-tied plaintiff Backertop Licensing LLC has apprised the court that Backertop and its sole owner Lori LaPray will not appear, either in person or remotely, at a planned July 20 hearing and that “Backertop has instructed its attorneys not to produce any documents” going forward. The plaintiff did so in an extraordinary document styled as a “Notice of Objection to and Non-Participation in Judicial Inquisition”. In it, Backertop declares that Judge Connolly “has abandoned the adversarial framework that is a hallmark of [the US] legal system and that affords constitutional safeguards to those facing potential sanctions, including criminal prosecution”; that Judge Connolly “has been compelling Backertop and Ms. LaPray to provide testimonial and documentary evidence without advising them of their rights in the face of a possible criminal prosecution”; and that Backertop and LaPray therefore “respectfully decline to participate further” in what they term a “transparently invalid” proceeding. New counsel David L. Finger of Finger & Slanina, LLC filed this document on Backertop’s behalf two days after Judge Connolly denied Backertop’s “motion for reconsideration” of a prior order requiring LaPray to appear in person at the July 20 hearing.
July 16, 2023
Judge Connolly Brings Receipts
In Case You Missed It
In the spiraling “Series of Extraordinary Events” in Delaware, Chief Judge Colm F. Connolly, in a July 10 memorandum, has denied Backertop’s motion for reconsideration of a prior order requiring Lori LaPray, the sole owner of IP Edge LLC-linked plaintiff Backertop Licensing LLC, to appear in person before him on July 20. LaPray had cited childcare and financial burdens preventing her from traveling to Delaware, in which venue her LLC requested jury trials in multiple affirmative patent cases filed last year. In denying her request to appear telephonically, Judge Connolly unpacks the financial burdens, relaying figures that suggest, among other things, that entities associated with LaPray have paid filing fees in excess of $35K over the past several years—and that the cost of round-trip ground travel from the Philadelphia airport to the Delaware courthouse on the calendared date is just $20 shy of the cost of airfare from Dallas, Texas (where LaPray lives) to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
July 16, 2023
The “Series of Extraordinary Events” Before Judge Connolly Might Produce Another Petition for a Writ of Mandamus
In Case You Missed It
On June 8, 2023, Delaware Chief Judge Colm F. Connolly held another hearing as part of the “Series of Extraordinary Events” unfolding after April 2022 standing orders imposed heightened disclosure requirements on litigants in his courtroom. Two separate attorneys had sought to withdraw from their separate representation of Backertop Licensing LLC with respect to several cases before Judge Connolly, who had received for in camera review a document production from the IP Edge LLC-linked plaintiff on May 9. Discussion with counsel on June 8 turned to several issues raised by the court’s review of that production, prompting Backertop to file—on June 14, six days after the hearing—a motion to seal the associated transcript, a review of which reveals an odd omission.
June 20, 2023