A couple of weeks after District Judge Edward J. Davila granted a motion to dismiss a Northern District of California complaint filed by WiNet Labs LLC against Apple, the plaintiff has tagged two new defendants: Lenovo (Motorola Mobility) (1:20-cv-01094) and LG Electronics (LGE) (1:20-cv-01096), each in the Northern District of Illinois this time. The same patent, generally related to a hierarchical protocol for forming an “ad-hoc network”, is asserted, against Motorola Mobility’s “‘Mobile Hotspot’ service” and against LGE’s “ ‘Music Flow’ service”, which each defendant is alleged to have provided “through software within [its own] possession, custody, and control”, without relying “on hardware, software, or firmware within the possession, custody, or control” of users of the accused products. This language appears designed to defend against a motion to dismiss for failure to properly allege direct infringement, given Judge Davila’s order.

Various data and news sources are reporting that the US litigation finance sector will finish this year awash in capital. Meanwhile, there is mounting evidence that a growing number of NPEs are looking to third-party litigation funders to back new and existing campaigns. These investors include familiar players in the litigation funding and IP industries, as well as lesser known firms, a few of which are featured in this article.

Roughly one week after suing Apple in the Northern District of California, WiNet Labs LLC has asserted the same patent, generally related to a hierarchical protocol for forming an “ad-hoc network", against Samsung (1:19-cv-3903), filing the second suit of the NPE’s only campaign in the Southern District of New York. WiNet Labs targets the provision on the Galaxy S4 smartphone of Group Play, a content-sharing feature where a “group leader” creates a group, which generates a Wi-Fi access point that other participants connect to, allowing them to share music, photos, documents, and games.

Pennsylvania-based WiNet Labs LLC, an entity formed in Wyoming in late March, has filed suit against Apple (3:19-cv-02248) in the Northern District of California. The plaintiff accuses the tech giant of infringing a single patent generally related to a hierarchical protocol for forming an “ad-hoc network”, with infringement allegations focused on the personal hotspot feature offered by certain Apple iOS devices. WiNet Labs further pleads that its predecessor “through an agent, offered to sell the…patent to Apple” unsuccessfully at some point in 2014.