An Eastern District of Texas hearing scheduled for last week in a case filed by Analytical Technologies, LLC, a Leigh M. Rothschild-linked plaintiff, against Starbucks was postponed to this week. The court there is to consider, at least, a motion filed by Rothschild himself to dismiss certain counterclaims in which Starbucks challenges Rothschild’s entire monetization model—characterized elsewhere as inspired by the framework of former top-filer IP Edge LLC—as “an extensive thimblerig” intended to shield Rothschild from any negative litigation repercussions. In the meantime, Starbucks has filed a motion to compel discovery from Analytical Technologies and for an order protecting its lead counsel from the plaintiff’s deposition notice.

Qualitative Data Solutions, LLC (QDS) has sued HaptX (2:25-cv-01064) and SenseGlove (2:25-cv-01063) in separate Central District of California complaints targeting the provision of wireless gloves that work in conjunction with AR/VR headsets. Two patents generally related to “communicating a message to a user” through a “tactual device” are asserted in the cases, which together mark the first new campaign of 2025 for the monetization operation of frequent named inventor and plaintiff Leigh M. Rothschild. That operation is under some current pressure in the Eastern District of Texas, through a campaign filed by Rothschild-linked plaintiff Analytical Technologies, LLC; for details, see “Stage Set for Starbucks-Rothschild Showdown” (February 2025).

Late last year, Starbucks began taking a run at the monetization operation of Leigh M. Rothschild. Having been sued by Rothschild-linked plaintiff Analytical Technologies, LLC, Starbucks filed counterclaims against Rothschild himself (and others), since challenging the whole operation—characterized elsewhere as inspired by the framework of former top-filer IP Edge LLC—as “an extensive thimblerig” intended to shield Rothschild from any negative litigation repercussions. Eastern District of Texas Magistrate Judge Roy S. Payne has set a hearing for February 19, 2025, technically to consider the motion to dismiss filed by Rothschild himself, but briefing over a related motion to strike other Starbucks counterclaims has also completed. Others have taken their own runs at Rothschild before.

Touchpoint Projection Innovations LLC has voluntarily dismissed, without prejudice, its Eastern District of Texas action against Check Point Software Technologies, refiling substantially the same complaint (3:25-cv-00279) in the Northern District of Texas, which imposes heightened disclosure requirements on litigants. In connection with the new suit, M. Scott Fuller of Garteiser Honea, PLLC has signed a “Certificate of Interested Persons/Disclosure Statement” that, on its face, fails to provide “a complete list of all persons, associations of persons, firms, partnerships, corporations, guarantors, insurers, affiliates, parent or subsidiary corporations, or other legal entities that are financially interested in the outcome of the case”, as local rules require. A standard notice has been docketed, directing counsel with particularity “to review Rules 3.1, 7.4, and 81.2, regarding certificates of interested persons”.

Last month’s review of notable patent assignments considered the movement of assets from Avaya to Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC; from Level 3 Communications to Sandpiper CDN, LLC; from Seiko Epson to IPValue’s 138 East LCD Advancements Ltd. and Lumitek Display Technology Ltd.; from Transaction Security to a “BioCrypt Access”; from Fortress Investment Group LLC’s KIP Prod P1 LP to Prodea Automation LLC; from EMM Patents Ltd. to Empire IP LLC; from Siemens and Abdelsalam Helal to Rokiot USA LLC; and from Proxicom Wireless, LLC to Secure Communication Technologies, LLC. While a couple of these entities again feature prominently, this month’s review extends well beyond them to cover the movement of patents away from other operating companies, as well as within several repeat monetization players.

Wyoming Technology Licensing LLC has filed an Eastern District of Texas complaint against Verizon (2:24-cv-00467), alleging infringement of a single patent through the provision of smartphones, including those made by Alphabet (Google), Apple, or Samsung, that operate via an “intelligent voice assistant”. The claim chart attached to this complaint highlights the alleged infringement through the provision of the iPhone 15 Pro and its Siri voice assistant, characterizing that product as “representative for illustrating infringement of the other devices”, doing so despite the fact that a notice of settlement has been filed in the only prior case in this campaign, filed against Apple earlier this year.

Mobile Health Innovative Solutions, LLC (MHIS) has added an Eastern District of Texas case against Alphabet (Google) (2:24-cv-00437) to its sole litigation campaign, begun in December 2023 against Withings and since hitting Apple, Zepp Health, and Samsung (in that order). A single patent generally related to a wearable device with sensors that can be used to determine a user’s stress level is asserted against each defendant, with Google accused of infringement through the provision of its Pixel Watches.

This past January, Pay As You Go, LLC (PAYG), a plaintiff associated with monetization figure Leigh M. Rothschild, voluntarily dismissed its October 2023 case against Verizon, doing so without prejudice. Now, PAYG has sued Verizon (2:24-cv-00400) again, this time asserting a later family member of the patent previously in suit, both described as generally related to “telecommunications services and methods that enable a user and/or other responsible party to make payments as the user uses the telecommunication services”. The plaintiff again targets the provision of wireless telecommunication services that support features for allowing users to purchase such services in “blocks of data that can be used in a single month on the customer-user’s device”.

The bulk of the Eastern District of Texas complaint that Quantum Technology Innovations, LLC just filed against Liberty Media (SiriusXM) (2:24-cv-00246) is devoted to recounting the prosecution history of the sole patent-in-suit and to pleading defensively against an Alice attack. The intensity of that focus is perhaps motivated by the SiriusXM motion challenging the patents asserted against it this past December—by Display Technologies, LLC, which, like Quantum, is a plaintiff associated with Leigh M. Rothschild—as patent-ineligibly drawn to the abstract idea of “transferring a digital media file”. There, SiriusXM cites a prior court order characterizing Display’s “goal”: to pursue a “’nuisance-value’ settlement” through a “ransom” that SiriusXM does not wish to pay.

So far this month, Mobile Health Innovative Solutions, LLC (MHIS) has added cases against Samsung (2:24-cv-00106) and Zepp Health (Zepp North America) (2:24-cv-01030) to the litigation campaign that it began in December against Withings and expanded in January against Apple. As the plaintiff’s name suggests, this campaign is another health tracking affair, with a single patent generally related to a wearable device with sensors that can be used to determine a user’s stress level asserted. The case against Zepp was filed in the Central District of California, local rules of which require MHIS to disclose who is behind this litigation.