USPTO records indicate that earlier this year, a Canadian university assigned a portfolio of patents to an entity formed in Delaware—which public records filed in that state tie to FIG LLC (d/b/a Fortress Investment Group LLC). If past patterns hold, a new Fortress-controlled litigation campaign is likely imminent.

Late this summer, RPX flagged the assignment of 20 US patent assets from Softex Incorporated, a Texas-based security software company, to Softex LLC, an entity formed in Delaware by an individual apparently working at Fortress Investment Group LLC. Now, Softex LLC has turned patent plaintiff, opening up a campaign with West Texas complaints filed against each of Absolute Software (1:22-cv-01308), Dell (1:22-cv-01309), HP (1:22-cv-01311), and Lenovo (1:22-cv-01310)—with Microsoft’s Find My Device tool called out multiple times (Microsoft not named as a defendant though).

USPTO records indicate that in early August, a recently formed Delaware entity received a portfolio of patents from an inventor-controlled security software company. Publicly available information hints at the involvement of Fortress Investment Group LLC.