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.