RPX’s last look at notable patent assignments considered the movement of assets to Ueran Technology LLC from Huawei; to AX Wireless, LLC from SOLiD; to VideoLabs, Inc. from DCX US Agility Platform LLC, a subsidiary of DXC Technology; to Flash Uplink LLC from its publicly traded parent Quest Patent Research Corporation (QPRC); to various entities from Ascend Innovation Management, LLC entities; and to Nera Innovations Limited from multiple entities associated with Atlantic IP Services. It is time for a review of additional notable transfers recorded since then.

Image Processing Technologies, LLC (IPT), a subsidiary of General Patent Corporation (GPC), has rebooted a much-narrowed version of a litigation campaign that began with a suit against Canon back in 2013 and expanded in litigation against Samsung running between May 2016 and August 2020. The new complaint, filed against LG Electronics (LGE) (2:22-cv-00077) in the Eastern District of Texas, focuses on claim 1 of one of the seven patents-in-campaign, the others getting seriously banged up by the PTAB as well as by prior district court invalidity rulings. Infringement allegations again focus on the provision of smartphones and tablets with cameras that include image and face detection features.

Safe Driving Technologies LLC (SDT) has filed its first lawsuit, accusing Ford (1:21-cv-00064) of infringing four patents generally related to in-vehicle communications systems, “particularly”, according to the plaintiff, “to safety control systems for vehicles to reduce driver distraction, avoiding potentially dangerous conditions tending to produce accidents”. Ford is targeted over the provision of certain driver safety features within its SYNC 3 infotainment system. In the new complaint, SDT pleads facts related to purported past employment by Ford of the asserted patents’ sole named inventor in connection with a claim that the infringement alleged has been willful.

Kamatani Cloud LLC has revived a litigation campaign dormant since 2016, accusing NEC (1:20-cv-06721) of infringing a single patent generally related to networked measurement systems. The complaint accuses NEC of infringement through its provision of the NeoFace SmartID facial-recognition mobile app. General Patent Corporation (GPC), Kamatani Cloud’s ultimate parent and a familiar patent monetization firm, has been relatively quiet in recent years, at least in terms of filing patent litigation.

In October 2018, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) continued to see petitions for inter partes review (IPR) filed against Native American tribes following the Federal Circuit’s July ruling that the tribes’ sovereign immunity does not apply in the context of IPR, including a petition brought against the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe over patents at issue in the campaign waged by SRC Labs, LLC. That petition was filed shortly before the Federal Circuit declined to revisit its sovereign immunity opinion in late October. Also in October, the PTAB instituted trial in four IPRs against a subsidiary of Quarterhill Inc., which just reported a significant drop in quarterly patent licensing revenue over the previous year. Meanwhile, October saw a number of notable final decisions, including one issued in an IPR against a subsidiary of General Patent Corporation.

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) saw activity in AIA reviews against a variety of familiar plaintiffs in September, including validity challenges brought in campaigns targeting wireless communications technology and mobile devices. Among the NPEs hit with petitions for inter partes review (IPR) in September were Intellectual Ventures LLC, which continues to pursue its existing litigation as it divests other parts of its portfolio; and entities controlled by Fortress Investment Group LLC and Uniloc Corporation Pty. Limited, both of which have kept up a barrage of new litigation asserting former Pendrell Corporation patents. Also in September, the PTAB instituted trial in IPRs against Quarterhill Inc. and an NPE related to PanOptis Equity Holdings LLC, and issued final decisions against private plaintiffs including General Patent Corporation.

Throughout May 2018, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) saw activity in multiple long-running campaigns, including challenges brought against patents and plaintiffs with colorful and tangled litigation histories. The Board saw petitions for AIA review brought in May against Publishing Technologies LLC, an NPE controlled by patent attorney and frequent litigant Bradley D. Liddle; in the mobile devices campaign waged by AGIS Software Development LLC; and in the networking campaign brought by XR Communications, LLC. Also in May, the Board instituted trial for inter partes reviews (IPRs) against Iridescent Networks, Inc. and Oyster Optics, LLC. Final decisions issued in May include three against prolific plaintiff Realtime Data LLC, which saw claims cancelled from one of its data compression patents while another two survived unscathed, as well as final decisions cancelling claims from patents held by General Patent Corporation and VirnetX Holding Corporation.

Sentient Sensors, LLC, an inventor-controlled New Mexico plaintiff, has filed its first lawsuit, accusing Microsemi (2:18-cv-00121) of infringement through the provision of its SmartFusion and SmartFusion2 system-on-a-chip (SoC) product lines. The complaint asserts a single patent described in court documents as generally related to a controller “that can freely be reprogrammed in the field to work with various inputs and outputs” and that “is similar to a ‘system-on-a-chip’…but…transcends the functional capability of a single integrated circuit”. This campaign is the second over the same patent, after Blemel Technologies LLC, a New York entity affiliated with General Patent Corporation (GPC), asserted it against National Instruments in a 2015 suit.

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) saw activity in a variety of notable campaigns throughout February 2018, with petitions for inter partes review (IPR) filed against publicly traded Quarterhill Inc. as well as Fundamental Innovation Systems International LLC, Intellectual Ventures LLC, Realtime Data LLC, and Uniloc Corporation Pty. Limited. The Board also instituted trial in February for IPRs against General Patent Corporation, Oyster Optics, LLC, and Uniloc. In addition, the PTAB issued final decisions throughout February in IPRs against a range of different patent owners, including publicly traded NPEs (Acacia Research Corporation; InterDigital, Inc.; and VirnetX Inc.), an individual inventor (Daniel L. Flamm), and privately held plaintiffs (ChanBond, LLC; Makor Issues & Rights Ltd.; Papst Licensing GmbH & Company Kg; and Personalized Media Communications, LLC).

General Patent Corporation (GPC) subsidiary MOAEC Technologies LLC has launched a litigation campaign, suing Deezer (1:18-cv-00375), SoundCloud (1:18-cv-00376), and Spotify (1:18-cv-00377) in separate Delaware complaints. The sole patent asserted generally relates to organizing music files for customized playback, with MOAEC’s infringement allegations focused on the defendants’ music services and related systems, including apps, websites, and other devices. GPC has waged over 50 campaigns since 1998, but this campaign is the NPE’s first since the fall of 2016.