Microsoft recently renewed a motion to sanction Ramey LLP, as prior counsel for plaintiff CTD Networks LLC in a case between them. In support of its renewed motion, Microsoft submitted a declaration from “in house counsel” for CTD Eric D. Morehouse, attesting that CTD “does not have sufficient assets to satisfy Microsoft’s full fee request” and that CTD never approved the filing of a “Second Amended Complaint”, which CTD instructed Ramey LLP to dismiss. Now, Ramey LLP has responded (for the third time)—by filing a Rule 11 version of a motion for sanctions against Microsoft, two of its attorneys, and Morehouse for submitting that Morehouse declaration to the court. In support, Ramey LLP has publicly filed, among other things: (1) heavily redacted documents that reveal the settlement amounts paid by other defendants in this campaign; (2) presumably privileged emails from Morehouse colleagues while Ramey LLP still represented CTD; (3) draft claim charts still bearing the attorney-client privilege designation; and (4) early 2024 communications in which Morehouse attempts (unsuccessfully) to secure the signature of William P. Ramey III on a draft declaration intended to allay Morehouse’s investor concerns triggered by earlier Ramey statements.

Last Friday, the Federal Circuit gave CTD Networks LLC, a plaintiff under the apparent control of “AiPi, LLC (f/k/a AiPi Solutions)”, and district court defendant Alphabet (Google) a week “to file an updated status report indicating how they believe this appeal should now proceed” now that Whitestone Law has apprised the court that it has no plans to enter an appearance in the matter. On February 2, 2024, CTD’s current counsel, Ramey LLP, was allowed to withdraw from the appeal conditioned on the entry of appearance of new counsel for CTD Networks within 30 days. Per Ramey LLP’s emergency motion to withdraw, “In short, AiPi and Whitestone appear to be purposely prejudicing Ramey LLP’s and CTD Network’s [sic] interests in the pending appeal at the Federal Circuit by not filing an appeal brief”.

This past November, District of Colorado Magistrate Judge N. Reid Neureiter ordered William P. Ramey III of Ramey LLP to show cause in writing “why he should not be referred to the Court’s Committee on Conduct for his neglectful behavior in this case, including his failure to appear at a scheduling conference and his failure to serve any discovery”. Ramey’s response was to address five specific pieces of information “relevant to the issues of whether Mr. Ramey and his firm are spread too thin to provide competent representation”. Ramey filed his response—the contents of which have pulled back the curtain on a broad patent monetization operation, including arguably improper legal work, numerous inaccurate certificates of interested parties, and third-party litigation funding lurking in the shadows.

Western District of Texas Judge Xavier Rodriguez has stayed consideration of a Microsoft motion for sanctions against Ramey LLP, frequent plaintiff-side counsel in NPE patent cases, after CTD Networks LLC appealed Judge Rogriguez’s judgment against it. Among other things, CTD Networks and Ramey LLP, its counsel, filed amended pleadings that failed to address the court’s repeated, fatal pleading inadequacy concerns. Now, Western District of Texas Judge Alan D. Albright has dismissed a case that mCom IP, LLC filed against it after mCom IP, represented by Ramey LLP, failed to appear at a hearing to address Cisco’s motion to dismiss with prejudice an amended complaint there. Meanwhile, Western District of Texas Judge Robert L. Pitman has denied a request by LS Cloud Storage Technologies, LLC to revive a suit against Amazon, that suit having been dismissed with prejudice after the plaintiff, represented by Ramey LLP, failed even to meet a deadline by which to file an amended complaint.

Microsoft has asked Western District of Texas Judge Xavier Rodriguez to sanction Ramey LLP, frequent plaintiff-side counsel in NPE patent cases, by holding the firm jointly and severally liable for any attorney fees awarded to Microsoft in a companion exceptional case motion. Microsoft seeks a shift of fees associated with preparing a second motion to dismiss in a case filed by CTD Networks LLC, arguing that Ramey LLP must also be held accountable to deter it “from repeatedly filing baseless, nuisance-value suits”, and that “the entities Mr. Ramey represents are effectively judgment-proof. In other words, any money they receive (for example, by way of settlements) is paid to third parties such as litigation funders and Ramey LLP, leaving nothing to satisfy any subsequent fee awards or sanctions awarded against such entities”. Microsoft points to a recent rocky history of Ramey LLP representations in support of its request.

On April 10, 2023, Western District of Texas Judge Xavier Rodriguez heard oral argument concerning motions to dismiss complaints filed by CTD Networks LLC—represented by William P. Ramey III of Ramey LLP—against Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Cisco, and Microsoft. The court simultaneously considered whether to allow the plaintiff to file proposed amended complaints. Judge Rodriguez found both the operative complaint and the proposed amended complaints deficient, denying the motions to dismiss as to CTD’s claims for direct infringement and allowing CTD to file amended complaints but only if such pleadings identified “a single accused product—without using the language ‘by way of example and without limitation’—and explain[ed] how the product satisfied every limitation of each allegedly infringed patent claim”. Later in April, Ramey signed amended complaints (permitted under the April 10 order) that used the language “by way of example and without limitation” in obvious contravention of the court’s prior order. This past week, Judge Rodriguez responded by entering judgment in each defendant’s favor, ending all four cases.

The same four network monitoring patents already in suit in October 2022 cases filed against Alphabet (Google), Amazon, AT&T, Cisco, IBM, and Microsoft have all been asserted in a new round of complaints filed by CTD Networks LLC, also in the Western District of Texas. The latest defendants are Akamai Technologies (6:22-cv-01302), Musarubra (d/b/a Trellix) (6:22-cv-01303), Palo Alto Networks (6:22-cv-01304), and Verizon (6:22-cv-01306). Amended complaints have been filed in the suits against Amazon, AT&T (to replace the defendant, now naming AT&T Services), and Google, while Cisco (with an answer) and Microsoft (with a motion to dismiss) have separately responded to the original complaints filed against them and an extension to respond has pushed out the deadline in the IBM suit. All the cases have been assigned to District Judge Xavier Rodriguez.