After receiving a patent portfolio directly from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV) late last year, the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation, North Dakota—which made headlines in 2017 when it launched a campaign amid the debate over tribal sovereign immunity—has acquired a second portfolio of IV assets, this one by way of a deal with a different Native American tribe. The assignment, which was executed in early August, was closely followed by another notable acquisition by the Three Affiliated Tribes—this one involving a group of patents developed by Pantech.

This past week, the USPTO posted a late 2018 patent assignment from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV) to MEC Management, LLC, an NPE “formed under the tribal laws” of the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation, North Dakota. That tribe was the subject of considerable press in 2017, when it launched a litigation campaign (via affiliate MEC Resources, LLC) amid a heated public debate over the issue of tribal sovereign immunity.

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.