Recent months have seen yet more NPEs file litigation over patents received from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV), including Elite Gaming Tech LLC (d/b/a Elite Gaming Technology, LLC), which this past week fired off a dozen new suits asserting former IV patents. Meanwhile, USPTO records indicate that IV continues to assign patents to NPEs, including to at least one new entrant into the monetization business—and may be preparing for additional divestments in the near future.

M-Red Inc., a subsidiary of publicly traded Quest Patent Research Corporation (QPRC), has sued BBK Electronics (OnePlus) (2:21-cv-00297) over the provision of smartphones incorporating certain Qualcomm systems-on-chip (SoCs) that use oscillator circuits and on-chip temperature sensors for power management. The NPE asserts the same five patents, received in March 2019 from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV), at issue in March 2021 complaints filed separately against Mitsubishi Electric, Nintendo, and Xiaomi, two of which suits remain active in the earliest stages.

M-Red Inc., a subsidiary of publicly traded NPE Quest Patent Research Corporation (QPRC), has sued Mitsubishi Electric (2:21-cv-00075), Nintendo (2:21-cv-00076), and Xiaomi (2:21-cv-00077) in the Eastern District of Texas. In each complaint, the NPE asserts five patents, two of which are new to litigation; infringement allegations target the incorporation of systems-on-chip (SoCs) manufactured by Amlogic, Broadcom, NVIDIA, Renesas, Qualcomm, and/or themselves in various products (e.g., infotainment systems, projectors, smartphones, game consoles, etc.). At issue is the incorporation of oscillator circuits and the utilization of on-chip temperature sensors for power management. To date, M-Red has asserted six patents in this, its sole litigation campaign, each received in a portfolio of 50 US assets from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV) in March 2019.

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.

After District Judge Rodney Gilstrap issued letters rogatory to effect service on the first two defendants in its campaign, Taiwanese companies Acer and MediaTek, M-Red Inc. has expanded that campaign with another Eastern District of Texas suit. The third defendant is Panasonic (2:19-cv-00251), which M-Red accuses of infringing the same three patents already in suit, as well as a new one. With the three related patents, broadly directed to measuring and/or adjusting for temperature and voltage fluctuations in an integrated circuit (IC), the NPE targets Panasonic’s provision of products that “utilize on-chip temperature sensors for power management” such as Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 602A, 820A, and or 820 systems-on-chips (SOCs), including the Ford SYNC 3 Infotainment System. As to the newly asserted patent, which is generally related to temperature testing an IC device that contains a solder ball array connection, M-Red targets the provision of certain ICs or products incorporating ICs including the Panasonic MN2WS0270, MN34120, MN34230, MN34440PL, MN34595, MW39781, and MW39783 SoCs.

M-Red Inc., a subsidiary of publicly traded Quest Patent Research Corporation (QPRC), has begun to assert in litigation the first of nearly 50 US assets received from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV) this past March. The NPE accuses Acer (2:19-cv-00143) and MediaTek (2:19-cv-00141) of infringing three patents generally related to measuring and/or adjusting for temperature and voltage fluctuations in an integrated circuit. As RPX reported just last week, QPRC disclosed in its recent 10-K that it entered into an agreement with IV on March 15, under which it will distribute 50% of net proceeds of the M-Red patents to IV as long as QPRC generates revenue from the portfolio. QPRC also reports having paid IV $75K for the portfolio, “treated as an advance against distributions [sic] the first distributions of net proceeds payable to IV”.