Texas monetization firm IP Edge LLC recently moved two of the 30 US patents that it acquired from Siemens in October 2018 to a new entity, Bunker IP LLC, which has now asserted those two patents in separate suits filed against Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile) (1:21-cv-00483), DISH Network (DISH Wireless) (1:21-cv-00482), and ZTE (1:21-cv-00484) in the Northern District of Illinois and against TCL (1:21-cv-00088) in the District of Delaware. Myriad IP Edge plaintiffs have litigated patents from that former Siemens portfolio, including Q3 Networking LLC, which filed a complaint before the International Trade Commission (ITC), pleading that it would support a domestic industry claim by “promptly seek[ing] detailed discovery of Siemens’ domestic industry activities and investments related to the Asserted Patents and claimed technology through subpoena or through cooperation”. Q3 Networking has apparently proceeded via subpoena.

Sonohm Licensing LLC, a plaintiff affiliated with Texas monetization firm IP Edge LLC, has followed up its February case against Tangent Computer (3:20-cv-01511) with March suits against Avalue Technology (1:20-cv-00856), CONTEC (1:20-cv-00422), MilDef (1:20-cv-00423), Nex Computers (4:20-cv-02150), Superlogics (1:20-cv-10642), and VTech Holdings (Leapfrog Enterprises) (4:20-cv-02148), filed in a variety of judicial districts across the US. The NPE asserts in each complaint two patents generally related to wireless communication, with infringement allegations trained on a wide variety of devices alleged to use Bluetooth 4.0. After the February dismissal with prejudice of a declaratory judgment action brought by Amazon and the March dismissal with prejudice of an affirmative case against Mattel, the new suits join one open case in the campaign, active in the District of Utah against Juniper Systems.

Last week Amazon (3:19-cv-07474) filed a complaint against Sonohm Licensing LLC, an entity associated with monetization firm IP Edge LLC, seeking declaratory judgments of noninfringement as to its Fire series tablets. Sonohm Licensing sued Best Buy (among others) in August in the District of Delaware, targeting a wide range of products by various manufacturers with three former Siemens patents, specifically alleging infringement of two of those patents through the sale of Amazon Fire series tablets. Amazon pleads that it filed its case directly against Sonohm Licensing to prevent the NPE from securing “in terrorem settlements from retailers who decide they are ill-equipped to defend an unfamiliar technology and do not want their business relationships disrupted”.

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.