USPTO assignment records indicate that three entities tied to Texas monetization firm Empire IP LLC have received patent portfolios from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV). The first of them, Fleet Connect Solutions LLC (FCS), received its assets in May 2020 and began suing over them that December, including in districts that impose heightened disclosure requirements on litigants. Last month, RPX reported that, according to certifications filed across those districts, “Not One Person Is Apparently Interested, Financially or Otherwise, in the Outcome of Fleet Connect’s Cases” (December 2024). Since then, FCS (represented by Rozier Hardt McDonough PLLC) has filed a series of amended certifications, providing a list of interested nonparties, beyond “None”, but FCS has yet to do so across the board, and the other Empire IP plaintiff litigating assets from IV has not amended its “none” certifications.

IoT Innovations LLC has filed a second suit against Resideo Technologies (Snap One) (2:25-cv-00022). Eight patents, familiar to the campaign, are asserted with the Eastern District of Texas complaint targeting the provision of Control4 Smart Home. Public records confirm that IoT Innovations is an Empire IP LLC plaintiff and that at least one Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV) entity retains an interest in monetization proceeds from the asserted portfolio, but IoT Innovations just certified to the Central District of California, where it filed its last case, against Lutron Electronics, that there are no nonparties with a pecuniary interest in the outcome there. Insight, PLC signed that certification over a signature block containing litigation counsel Rozier Hardt McDonough PLLC.

Ten days after suing ecobee (for the second time), IoT Innovations LLC, an Empire IP LLC plaintiff, has filed an Eastern District of Wisconsin complaint against Generac (Generac Power Systems) (2:24-cv-01178). Seven patents are asserted in the new case, with infringement allegations focused on the provision of “remote security and control platform and systems”, including the Generac Mobile Link system and related products (i.e., the Mobile Link mobile app and Mobile Link Cellular 4G LTE device), as well as the Generac EV Chargers and related products (i.e., the Generac EV Charging mobile app).

IoT Innovations LLC, an Empire IP LLC plaintiff, has sued Generac (ecobee) (2:24-cv-00729) and Resideo Technologies (Snap One) (2:24-cv-00704), both in the Eastern District of Texas. ecobee is already a defendant in this campaign, now targeted with 17 patents over the provision of its “home security and control platform and systems”, including ecobee’s smart home platform, smart thermostats, smart cameras, smart plugs and sensors, and related products and services. The Snap One complaint, the first to hit this defendant, aims seven of those patents at the provision of its various smart home and security products as provided under the brand name Control4 Smart Home.

Empire IP LLC plaintiff IoT Innovations LLC acquired a portfolio of 40 patents from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV) through four separate July 2022 assignments. It began suing over them in November of that year, first hitting Savant Systems (Savant Technologies) in October 2023. Savant responded to that first complaint with a motion to dismiss, challenging the three asserted patents as patent-ineligibly directed to abstract ideas, under Alice. IoT Innovations filed a second complaint, in January 2024. An Alice motion followed. IoT Innovations filed a third complaint, in April 2024. An Alice motion followed. Now, the plaintiff has filed a fourth complaint (1:24-cv-01403), perhaps triggering a countdown clock.

So far in December, Empire IP LLC plaintiff IoT Innovations LLC has added a Southern District of Florida case against Somfy Systems (9:23-cv-81528) in its sole litigation campaign, launched in November 2022. The five patents-in-suit, each acquired from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV) that July, are broadly directed to various aspects of networking and wireless communications. Somfy Systems is targeted over the provision of its Somfy Home and Security Systems-series products, which include various smart cameras, fixtures, keypads, lights, and mobile apps, as well as related encryption and wireless communications technologies.

IoT Innovations LLC—a plaintiff associated with Texas monetization firm Empire IP LLC—has expanded its sole litigation campaign with a suit against TP-Link and its various subsidiaries (2:23-cv-00453) in the Eastern District of Texas. The seven patents-in-suit, each acquired from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV) in July 2022 assignments, are broadly directed to various aspects of networking and wireless communications. The NPE’s infringement allegations target the provision of a range of smart home and security products, including related apps, cameras, IoT hubs, lightbulbs, plugs, routers, sensors, software, and switches.

The contours of the litigation campaign being waged by Empire IP LLC’s IoT Innovations LLC are still in flux, the plaintiff having added third complaints against each of prior defendants Monitronics International (d/b/a Brinks Home) (2:23-cv-00177), hit in the Eastern District of Texas in both November 2022 and January 2023, and SimpliSafe (1:23-cv-10879), hit in the District of Massachusetts in both February and March 2023. With each complaint, the number of patents, received from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV), climbs—now reaching roughly 30 asserted, in overlapping subsets, against the two defendants. Meanwhile, assignment records made public by the USPTO suggest that Empire IP is preparing to launch its first new campaigns of 2023, one related to wireless networking and the other, to wearables.

In November 2022, Empire IP LLC plaintiff IoT Innovations LLC filed its first litigation over patents acquired from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV) just five months prior, suing Monitronics International (d/b/a Brinks Home) in the Eastern District of Texas. Now, the plaintiff has filed a District of Massachusetts complaint against SimpliSafe (1:23-cv-10352), asserting six patents—five of which are new to the litigation—broadly directed to various aspects of networking and natural language processing. The defendant is accused of infringement through the provision of its home security platform and related products (e.g., its mobile app, base stations, cameras, keypads, sensors, and smoke detectors).

A new Empire IP LLC vehicle has begun litigating, IoT Innovations LLC suing Monitronics International (d/b/a Brinks Home) (2:22-cv-00432) in the Eastern District of Texas over the alleged infringement of six patents through the provision of “its home security platform and systems”. It is the first case arising from a 45-US patent portfolio received from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV) this past July and the third litigation campaign that Empire IP has begun in 2022.