Kioba Processing, LLC, an NPE associated with Georgia monetization firm IPInvestments Group LLC (d/b/a IPinvestments Group), has added a case against Cullen/Frost Bankers (Frost Bank) (2:22-cv-00057) to the litigation campaign that it began in July 2020 with a suit against American Express. The defendant is accused of infringing three patents—each received from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV)—through the provision of various network-based finance products, including the Frost website and mobile app, as well as the Freeze/Unfreeze Card service.

PNC Financial Group (PNC Bank) (2:20-cv-01884) has filed a Western District of Pennsylvania declaratory judgment action against Kioba Processing, LLC, an entity associated with Georgia monetization firm IP Investments Group LLC (d/b/a IPinvestments Group). PNC seeks a declaratory judgment of noninfringement of three of Kioba’s seven patents-in-campaign as to various of its online banking products and services. In a recent motion to dismiss the complaint filed against it, prior defendant Discover characterizes Kioba’s asserted patents as “[w]ritten at the turn of the century when the Patent Office was unusually permissive”, as claiming “processes that involve multiple independent parties”, and/or as asserting “intellectual property rights in such commonplace ideas as selecting a bank account to pay a bill or authenticating a customer with a pre-selected phrase”.

Kioba Processing, LLC, an NPE associated with the monetization firm IPInvestments Group LLC (d/b/a IPinvestments Group), has sued Bank of America (2:20-cv-00328) in the Eastern District of Texas following its Northern District of Illinois suit against Discover last month. The defendant is accused of infringing five patents—each received from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV)—through the provision of network-based finance products and services, including the Bank of America app, the Lock/Unlock service, SafePass service, and more.

RPX data indicate that since 2016, NPEs have collectively launched over 80 separate litigation campaigns asserting patents received from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV). Meanwhile, the outflow of patents from IV persists, and divestments executed last year (primarily during the fourth quarter of 2019) continue to be recorded with the USPTO—many preceding the start of new NPE campaigns.

Kioba Processing LLC has added a Northern District of Illinois case against Discover (1:20-cv-04868) to the litigation campaign that it began with a July suit against American Express in the Northern District of Texas. The plaintiff, an IP Investments Group LLC NPE, targets the provision of various network-based finance products and services provided by Discover—including biometric login features, the “Freeze It” service, the Discover Mobile App, Digital Exchange (DDX) digital wallet, and the ProtectBuy service—with five former Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV) patents, four of which are at issue in the American Express case.

As RPX has previously reported, IPInvestments Group LLC (d/b/a IPinvestments Group) became the top NPE recipient of patents divested from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV) after a group of entities associated with the Georgia monetization firm picked up thousands of those assets late last year. Another such entity has now filed its first lawsuit, Kioba Processing LLC hitting American Express (3:20-cv-01781) over the provision of various network-based finance products and services provided by it, including AMEX Pay, InAuth and Accertify, Freeze Your Card, Rewards Portal, and SafeKey. The case was filed in the Northern District of Texas, where the plaintiff disclosed nonparties having an interest in the outcome of the litigation.

The last time that Hanger Solutions, LLC—a Georgia NPE associated with monetization firm IPInvestments Group LLC (d/b/a IPinvestments Group)—assigned a set of the thousands of former Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV) patents that it picked up late last year, the recipient, 21ST CENTURY GARAGE LLC (21st Century Garage), filed suit within weeks. Earlier this month, the transfer of two patents from Hanger Solutions to Kioba Processing, LLC, also associated with IPinvestments Group, was both executed and recorded, suggesting that another new campaign is imminent. The transferred patents generally relate to fraud prevention in “network based transactions” and name David P. Cook, the founder of Blockbuster Video, as their sole inventor.

In mid-May, RPX reported on the connection between a bushel of the Georgia LLCs in receipt of thousands of patent assets divested by Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV) to that state’s monetization firm IPInvestments Group LLC (d/b/a IPinvestments Group). Now, several of those LLCs have filed suit, with CDN Innovations, LLC opening up a wireless communications campaign; CommWorks Solutions, LLC, networking litigation; and DigiMedia Tech, LLC, a digital camera campaign. It may not be long before the others pick patents to assert in litigation of their own.

A series of annual statements filed in Georgia have identified an executive at Atlanta-based patent monetization firm IPInvestments Group LLC (d/b/a IPinvestments Group) as an “Authorized Person” for a group of NPEs that collectively acquired thousands of patent assets from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV) late last year. Meanwhile, this past week saw the first outbound assignment by one of those Georgia NPEs come to light, involving over 70 US assets—followed in short order by the new assignee’s inaugural patent suit, filed against Hyundai. Patents originating with Daimer Chrysler or Intel are among those asserted.

The late 2019 peel off by Intellectual Ventures, LLC (IV) of more than 3,500 US assets to a batch of Georgia NPEs has ousted Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC from its long-held position as the top NPE assignee of IV divestitures. Meanwhile, as discussed in RPX’s Q1 in Review blog post, throughout the first quarter, NPEs continued filing new litigation asserting patents received from IV, hitting a broad range of targets, including over patents developed by major operating companies.