This past November, District of Colorado Magistrate Judge N. Reid Neureiter ordered William P. Ramey III of Ramey LLP to show cause in writing “why he should not be referred to the Court’s Committee on Conduct for his neglectful behavior in this case, including his failure to appear at a scheduling conference and his failure to serve any discovery”. Ramey’s response was to address five specific pieces of information “relevant to the issues of whether Mr. Ramey and his firm are spread too thin to provide competent representation”. Ramey filed his response—the contents of which have pulled back the curtain on a broad patent monetization operation, including arguably improper legal work, numerous inaccurate certificates of interested parties, and third-party litigation funding lurking in the shadows.

Last month, Wristdocs LLC filed five Western District of Texas lawsuits, one against each of Alphabet (Google), Apple, Garmin, Masimo, and Zepp Health, targeting pulse oximetry. Wristdocs characterized itself as a Tennessee entity, located at a similar but confused mix of Tennessee addresses. Now, all five of those cases have been dismissed without prejudice, in favor of a set of four new affirmative complaints, again filed in the Western District of Texas, but this time by Wrist SP Biotech LLC, which characterizes itself as a Delaware entity and consistently locating itself, across all four actions, at the Reston, Virginia address of several businesses, including one that provides “Traditional IP Services” and “Strategic Patent Services”, as well as “IP Litigation Finance”. Meanwhile, Apple has separately filed a declaratory judgment action against Wrist SP Biotech in the District of Delaware.

Tennessee plaintiff Wristdocs LLC has filed new cases against Alphabet (Google) (6:23-cv-00533), Apple (6:23-cv-00531), Garmin (6:23-cv-00532), Masimo (6:23-cv-00531), and Zepp Health (6:23-cv-00535), all in the Western District of Texas. The two patents now in suit generally relate to pulse oximetry sensors, with infringement allegations targeting the provision of pulse oximeter sensors (Masimo) or wearables that incorporate them (the others).