Slyde Analytics LLC, a funded Ascend Innovation Management, LLC (AIM) plaintiff, has filed a fourth complaint in its smartwatch campaign, suing Apple (2:24-cv-00331) in the Eastern District of Texas, where litigation is already underway against Samsung (sued in February 2023 over four patents), Zepp Health (sued in April 2023 over seven patents), and Garmin (March 2024, nine patents). Apple is accused of infringing 11 patents through the provision of smartwatches and related products, including smartphones, with an emphasis on features related to athletic performance metric tracking, displays, and power management.

An entity created by two Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV) alums has received more than 880 US patent assets from IV to date, and as reported by RPX last month, subsets of those patents have been on the move since at least June of this year. A review of USPTO assignment records confirms that even more transfers involving IV divestitures took place over the last few weeks, further spreading patents among a network of Texas NPEs.

A Q4 assignment flagged by RPX last month has given way to new litigation, Slyde Analytics LLC suing Samsung (2:23-cv-00083) in the Eastern District of Texas over a group of four patents generally related to wristwatches with a digital display, including two having named inventors that the plaintiff characterizes as “famed watch designers”. Samsung is accused of infringement through the provision of certain Galaxy Watch smartwatches. Public records shed light on the individuals behind the plaintiff—as well as on the plaintiff’s litigation funder.

Patent assignments executed in late 2022 and early 2023 continue to surface among USPTO data, with several transactions hinting at possible litigation campaigns to come. The assignees include a newly surfaced Atlantic IP Services Limited NPE, multiple NPEs apparently associated with a familiar figure in patent monetization, and an NPE that—according to public records—has received funding from a prominent litigation finance firm.