The Delaware case that ASSA ABLOY (Assa Abloy Americas Residential) (AAA Residential) (1:23-cv-00918) filed against Multimodal LLC last month has recently been assigned to Chief Judge Colm F. Connolly. The complaint seeks a declaratory judgment of noninfringement of a single patent generally related to actuating a lock if a scanned object matches a “reference texture”; it characterizes a June 2023 case that Multimodal filed against ASSA ABLOY (now dismissed without prejudice) as “the Wrongly-Venued Texas Litigation” and a June case that Multimodal filed against Spectrum Brands (still active) as “the Wrongly-Filed Wisconsin Litigation”. The parties have yet to respond to the standing orders in force in Judge Connolly’s courtroom, but plaintiffs with ties to Multimodal have done so, indicating that they are backed by third-party litigation funding.

Multimodal LLC has expanded the litigation campaign that it launched last month against Anker, Lockly, Princeton Bofei, and Wyze Labs, the plaintiff filing new suits against Assa Abloy (6:23-cv-00457) and Philips (6:23-cv-00458) in the Western District of Texas, Fortune Brands Innovations (6:23-cv-00457) in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Samsung (2:23-cv-00290) in the Eastern District of Texas, Spectrum Brand Holdings (3:23-cv-00420) in the Western District of Wisconsin, and ZKTeco (2:23-cv-03528) in the District of New Jersey. The sole asserted patent, originating with HP, generally relates to actuating a lock if a scanned object matches a “reference texture”. The defendants are accused of infringement through the provision of smart locks equipped with fingerprint sensors.

Multimodal LLC—a plaintiff connected with a figure familiar in patent monetization circles—has filed its first litigation, suing Lockly (1:23-cv-00601) and Wyze Labs (1:23-cv-00599) in the District of Delaware followed by Anker (6:23-cv-00430) in the Western District of Texas. The sole asserted patent, originating with HP, generally relates to actuating a lock if a scanned object matches a “reference texture”. The defendants are targeted over the provision of smart locks that incorporate fingerprint sensors.