RPX took note, among the USPTO assignment records made available during the first half of May, of the transfer of patents to frequent plaintiffs Leigh M. Rothschild and IP Valuation Partners (both of which received patents from Intellectual Ventures LLC) and BlackBird Tech LLC. RPX also took note of transfers of patents from multiple assignors to an NPE controlled by patent attorney Brian Yates—a California attorney revealed, by a January sanctions ruling in Texas, as controlling more entities than previously thought. Also among the noted transactions are outbound assignments by Panasonic, Pantech, and ZTE, and a transfer from Allied Security Trust’s Industry Patent Purchase Program involving former IBM and Nokia patents.

RPX took note of seven patent transfers to NPEs recorded during the first half of September 2016. Assignees included Mobile Synergy Solutions, LLC (which has ties to Monument Patent Holdings, LLC and Dominion Harbor Group, LLC); Silkeen LLC (a newly formed NPE apparently connected to IP Edge LLC); and Blackbird Tech LLC. NPEs controlled by Monument Patent Holdings or IP Edge have collectively filed over 280 patent infringement cases so far this year, and Blackbird Tech, which has waged 11 litigation campaigns to date, has filed 30 cases in 2016.

In the second half of June 2016, RPX saw over 20 patent transfers to NPEs recorded with the USPTO. A number of those transactions involved patents that have been asserted in litigation against operating companies—some as recently as this past week.

This past week saw the number of newly formed Texas NPEs managed by Michigan attorney Erik Stamell to launch litigation double, from two to four. First, Post Media Systems LLC asserted three patents (7,069,310; 7,472,175; 8,725,832) in new cases against iHeartMedia (2:16-cv-00649) and Spotify (2:16-cv-00650). Those patents-in-suit generally relate to managing media files for playback over a computer network, with the defendants accused of infringement through provision of their music and radio online services and related apps. Next, Optical Measurement Systems, LLC accused Broadcom (Avago) (1:16-cv-0468) and Marvell (1:16-cv-00469) of infringing a single patent (8,838,822), generally related to translating packet-based data into a serial data stream, through the sale of the defendants’ optical transceivers. Also this week, Digital Audio Encoding Systems, LLC added seven defendants to a campaign that it kicked off one month ago by filing a case against Apple. With nearly 20 new NPEs formed in Texas since August 2015, more Stamell-managed litigation campaigns seem destined to follow in 2016.

In the second half of July 2015, RPX saw 17 patent transfers to non-practicing entities recorded with the USPTO.