HCL Technologies, together with subsidiary HCL America (2:21-cv-00259), has asked the Eastern District of Texas for declaratory judgments of noninfringement, through provision of its HCL WebSphere Commerce e-commerce platform, and invalidity of three patents held by CXT Systems, Inc., a subsidiary of publicly traded Quest Patent Research Corporation (QPRC). Those three patents have been at issue throughout CXT’s litigation campaign, begun in April 2018, including in complaints filed separately against Advance Auto Parts, Costco, IKEA, Sherwin-Williams, and V.F. Corporation in the same district.

With investors and analysts focused on the spread of coronavirus and its impact on global economic growth, expect the chatter around litigation finance as a “recession-proof asset class” to grow louder, and interest in the industry—which is reportedly already awash with capital—to mount. Meanwhile, early 2020 has seen a number of decisions notable in the ongoing debate over the disclosure of commercial litigation funding, as well as the emergence of yet more NPEs backed by private equity.

Quest Patent Research Corporation’s (QPRC’s) CXT Systems, Inc. campaign, which since 2018 has hit 15 retailers over patents received from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV), has seen a number of interesting developments over the past six months. Ahead of CXT’s trial against J.C. Penney, scheduled to commence on February 18 in the Eastern District of Texas, a recently issued order on motions in limine will catch the eye of those following the debate over disclosure of third-party litigation funding. Meanwhile, a review of QPRC’s SEC filings shed light on the NPE’s possible returns on its enforcement efforts.

As CXT Systems, Inc., a subsidiary of publicly traded NPE Quest Patent Research Corporation, adds more retailers to its ecommerce campaign, the USPTO continues to make public additional patent assignments from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV) to CXT. Mid-June assignment records also include a recent transfer of 31 patent assets from IBM to Finjan Blue, Inc.

CXT Systems, Inc., a subsidiary of publicly traded Quest Patent Research Corporation (QPRC), has filed a second round of cases in the ecommerce campaign that it began last month. The new defendants are retailers Conn’s (2:18-cv-00231), Fossil Group (2:18-cv-00232), JCPenney (2:18-cv-00233), Stage Stores (2:18-cv-00234), and Tailored Brands (2:18-cv-00235). In each complaint, CXT asserts up to seven patents generally related to various aspects of ecommerce, including consumer recommendation engines and online message boards.

Publicly traded Quest Patent Research Corporation (QPRC) has added cases to two of its subsidiaries’ litigation campaigns, while also launching a third. At the beginning of this month, Photonic Imaging Solutions Inc. asserted four patents, generally related to CMOS image sensors, against ASUS, Lorex Technology, and NETGEAR; it has now sued a fourth defendant, Lenovo (1:18-cv-00636), targeting more laptops, tablets, desktop computers, and smartphones, calling out the Yoga Book YB1-X90L in the new complaint. Meanwhile, separate QPRC subsidiary Mariner IC Inc. has also sued Lenovo (2:18-cv-00168), as well as Huawei (2:18-cv-00167) and TiVo (2:18-cv-00166), over two patents broadly related to anchoring a semiconductor die to prevent cracking, after filing cases asserting those same patents against Acer, ASUS, Bose, Schneider Electronics, and Sharp in mid-March. Finally, QPRC’s CXT Systems, Inc. has kicked off a new litigation campaign with the potential to expand quickly and widely, asserting multiple patents against Academy (d/b/a Academy Sports + Outdoors) (2:18-cv-00171), Pier 1 Imports (2:18-cv-00172), and The Container Store (2:18-cv-00173), targeting their e-commerce websites.