Slingshot Printing LLC has added a second defendant to the first of its two litigation campaigns—this one launched in June 2019 with a case against HP—suing Canon (2:22-cv-00123) in the Eastern District of New York. The NPE asserts four patents described by the plaintiff as related to “inkjet printer technology”, with infringement allegations targeting the provision of inkjet printers and related products, including ink cartridges and printheads.

Slingshot Printing LLC has filed a fifth lawsuit against HP (6:20-cv-00048), asserting two more inkjet technology patents acquired from Japanese consumer electronics maker Funai Electric and originally developed by IBM-spinoff Lexmark International. After this case and a September 2019 suit, and after filing amended complaints in its first three lawsuits, begun in June 2019, all against HP, Slingshot Printing has brought the number of former Funai patents at issue to roughly three dozen. While most of Slingshot Printing’s portfolio was acquired in early 2019, one of the two patents asserted in this fifth complaint was just assigned from Funai on December 24, 2019, shortly after HP filed a motion in the prior cases challenging the plaintiff’s standing to bring suit alone, without Funai, based on the agreements governing the patent transfers between the two.

In April 2013, Japanese consumer electronics maker Funai Electric announced that it had agreed to acquire the inkjet-related technology and assets of IBM-spinoff Lexmark International for roughly $100M. The announcement was followed by Lexmark’s assignment of more than 1,500 US and foreign patent assets to Funai. Now, some of those patents are being asserted by recently formed NPE Slingshot Printing LLC—which earlier this year received more than 100 US assets from Funai—with assignment records suggesting that Funai might hold an economic interest in Slingshot’s litigation.