For several years running, IP Edge LLC has been responsible for the most defendants added to NPE litigation campaigns throughout each calendar year. 2019 was no different. Last year saw roughly 400 defendants added to campaigns launched by plaintiffs associated with the Texas monetization firm, the campaigns spanning a wide range of technologies and now involving suits filed (and typically litigated in file-and-settle fashion) in myriad districts. A quick glance at the NPE’s January filings suggests that 2020 will see more of the same, while a recent Alice ruling may have just ended one of IP Edge’s 2019 campaigns.

In April 2019, Zyrcuits IP LLC, an NPE apparently associated with monetization firm IP Edge LLC, picked up the bulk of the patent portfolio once held (and litigated) by Linex Technologies, Inc. Last week, Zyrcuits asserted the first of those 30 US patents, filing complaints against Signify (1:19-cv-01609), Spectrum Brands (1:19-cv-01610), Wink Labs (1:19-cv-01607), and Wirepath Home Systems (Control4) (1:19-cv-01608), in the District of Delaware and against Samsung (2:19-cv-00298) in the Eastern District of Texas. The sole asserted patent generally relates to spread-spectrum wireless data transmission, with infringement allegations targeting the provision of smart home products supporting the ZigBee wireless communications standard.

The portfolio of patents received by monetization firm IP Edge LLC from Siemens in October 2018 has now given rise to eight campaigns, with the most recent waged by plaintiff Sonohm Licensing LLC. The NPE has accused Best Buy (Great Call) (1:19-cv-01619, 1:19-cv-01620), Fry’s Electronics (2:19-cv-00297), Juniper Systems (1:19-cv-00101), and ROKit (2:19-cv-07569) of infringing up to three wireless communications patents through the provision and/or sale of various devices that use Bluetooth 4.0 technology, including various smartphones, speakers, tablets, and wireless earphones. The retailers, Best Buy and Fry’s, are accused of infringement through the sale of such products made by Amazon, ASUSTek, BLU Products, Caterpillar, CellAllure, DigiLand, Ematic, Lenovo, RugGear, and Visual Land, among others, with Best Buy’s GreatCall tagged over the provision of the Jitterbug Smart2 and Jitterbug Flip “senior cell phones”; Juniper Systems, over its “rugged” mobile devices (i.e., the CT7G, Allegro 3, and Archer 3); and ROKit, over its iO Pro 3D, 3D, Light, and One smartphones.

Enchanted IP LLC, a Texas entity associated with monetization firm IP Edge LLC, has begun a campaign over a single patent generally concerning an external battery that can use a “detection terminal” to charge or discharge. The defendants are Hon Hai (Belkin) (2:19-cv-07572) and ZAGG (Mophie) (8:19-cv-01648), each sued in the Central District of California; Sunvalleytek International d/b/a RAVpower (3:19-cv-05513) and Tenergy (3:19-cv-05512) in the Northern District of California; Anker Innovations (1:19-cv-01632) in the District of Delaware; and Procter & Gamble (Duracell) (1:19-cv-11858), sued in the District of Massachusetts, with the plaintiff naming in its complaints the companies’ portable chargers: the Belkin Pocket Power, the Mophie Juice Pack Reserve, the RAVPower Power Bank, the Tenergy TB6AC, Anker’s PowerCore+, and the Duracell Powerbank, respectively. IP Edge received the sole patent-in-suit as part of a larger acquisition, involving roughly a dozen US assets, from Huawei.

In late August 2019, while IP Edge LLC dropped four brand new litigation campaigns through litigating entities Aristors Licensing LLC (over a patent received from an inventor-controlled entity), Enchanted IP LLC (over a patent received from Huawei), Sonohm Licensing LLC  (over patents received from Siemens), and Zyrcuits IP LLC (over a patent received from Linex Technologies, Inc.), the Texas monetization firm also added cases across an even broader set of its many campaigns. Altair Logix LLC, Digi Portal LLC, EncodiTech LLC, Saros Licensing LLC, and Wave Linx LLC—each a Texas plaintiff associated with IP Edge—have all filed cases over the past week.

RPX completed a number of deals in June 2019 on behalf of its patent risk management network. The acquisitions occurred within the following market sectors: Consumer Electronics and PCs; E-Commerce and Software; Financial Services; and Networking.

As reported by RPX earlier this year, prolific NPE IP Edge LLC picked up a portfolio of patent assets from Huawei in February 2019. In the past three months, the Texas-based monetization firm has farmed out some of the former Huawei patents to newly created entities in that state, several of which—Bexley Solutions LLC; Devine Licensing LLC; Saros Licensing LLC; and Theta Chip LLC—have since begun litigating them. Public records indicate that more litigation stemming from that February transaction is likely coming soon.

According to recently released assignment records, prolific patent plaintiff IP Edge LLC has picked up roughly a dozen US patent assets from Huawei. Some of the patents transferred originally issued to Huawei (or its subsidiary Futurewei), but the original development work for others was conducted elsewhere, including at Avici Systems (d/b/a Soapstone Networks), Fujitsu, IBM, NCR, or Panasonic (Matsushita). It has not taken the Texas monetization firm long to debut the first of those assets in litigation; last Friday, Saros Licensing LLC, a recipient of three related patents generally related to a network-connected “domestic food-processing appliance”, sued ACP (1:19-cv-00764), Haier (1:19-cv-00766), LG Electronics (1:19-cv-00765), and Traeger Pellet Grills (1:19-cv-00767) in the District of Delaware and Sub-Zero (1:19-cv-00949) in the Northern District of Ohio. Other recent activity strongly suggests that more litigation from the transacted assets is to follow.