Last week, RPX raised the possibility of IP Edge LLC’s practices—specifically, the naming of Texas residents with seemingly no discernible connections to patent monetization as managers or managing members of most of its LLCs—sliding under the judicial microscope. On September 12, District of Delaware Chief Judge Colm F. Connolly ordered a handful of such individuals to appear, in person, at evidentiary hearings to determine whether a group of apparent IP Edge plaintiffs has complied with his standing order regarding the disclosure of any third-party litigation funding. A similar order has been issued in multiple cases associated with Dynamic IP Deals, LLC (d/b/a DynaIP), Judge Connolly setting an October hearing to determine the accuracy of those plaintiffs’ amended corporate disclosure statements. Perhaps unsurprisingly, voluntary dismissals have been noticed across these cases, ending the court’s jurisdiction over the matters.

In June 2018, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) saw petitioners wage validity challenges against a variety of prominent NPEs. Among those hit by petitions for AIA review in June was Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV), which has not filed any new litigation in the US since October 2017, but continues to assert patents overseas; and NPEs affiliated with Fortress Investment Group LLC and Industrial Technology Research Institute. Also in June, the PTAB instituted trial for two IPRs against affiliates of top litigant IP Edge LLC, which remains the most prolific patent plaintiff of the past 18 years by the number of defendants added to US patent suits. In addition, the Board issued final decisions in IPRs against IV, the California Institute of Technology, inventor Daniel L. Flamm, and frequent litigants Realtime Data LLC and Uniloc Corporation Pty. Limited.

Spycurity LLC, an apparent affiliate of Texas monetization firm IP Edge LLC, has filed a third round of cases in the litigation campaign that it began last July. The new defendants are Dialogic (1:18-cv-00267), Edgewater Networks (1:18-cv-00268), GenBand (1:18-cv-00269), and KVH Industries (1:18-cv-00270). The campaign has seen a single patent, generally related to initiating a computer program based on receipt of a telephone call, asserted, with infringement allegations focused on the manufacture and sale of gateway devices that facilitate connection between more traditional telephone formats and VoIP systems.

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) remained at the center of a heated public debate over the issue of tribal sovereign immunity in December 2017. Motions to dismiss filed by the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe in IPRs against several Allergan patents—acquired by the tribe and licensed back to their original owner to shield them through sovereign immunity—remain pending as the PTAB considers a wave of amicus briefs filed on both sides of the issue. The Board has since denied the tribe’s motion for an oral hearing on discovery related to alleged bias held by the USPTO and its leadership, and that bias’s effect on the selection of judges for the tribe’s case. Meanwhile, among the petitions for inter partes review (IPR) filed in December was one brought by Apple against MEC Resources, LLC, an entity owned by another Native American tribe, which took over an existing lawsuit asserting the challenged patent against Apple in the fall. Also in December, the Board issued institution decisions in petitions against Iridescent Networks, Inc.; Lone Star Silicon Innovations LLC; and publicly traded Quarterhill Inc.; while an IPR against Packet Intelligence LLC ended in an adverse judgment after petitioner Sandvine prevailed in a November trial.

RPX took notice, among the USPTO assignment records made available during the first half of July, of a patent transfer involving over 160 assets to Fortress Investment Group LLC. Other assignees of note included IP Edge LLC, the most prolific patent plaintiff in 2017 thus far, and Rondevoo Technologies, Inc., which appears to be on the precipice of launching its first litigation campaign.

Spycurity LLC, an apparent affiliate of Texas patent monetization firm IP Edge LLC, has launched a new litigation campaign, filing separate Delaware suits against Audiocodes (1:17-cv-00883), Digium (1:17-cv-00884), Fortinet (1:17-cv-00885), Sangoma (1:17-cv-00886), and Sonus Networks (1:17-cv-00887). Each complaint asserts a single patent (5,809,118), generally related to initiating a computer program based on receipt of a telephone call. The NPE accuses the defendants of infringement through the manufacture and sale of gateway devices that facilitate connection between more traditional telephone formats and VoIP computer systems, more specifically, Audiocodes’s Mediant 3000 E-SBC and Media Gateway, Digium’s G200 Dual T1 E1 PRI Gateway, the Fortivoice 100D8 Gateway, Sangoma’s Netborder SS7 VoIP Gateway, and Sonus Networks’s Quintum AXT4800 VoIP Gateway.