One well-established monetization operation has announced the acquisition of a portfolio of patents from Innolux, while another is the recipient of yet another batch of patents assembled and divested from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV). Meanwhile, a newer monetization team has picked up a set of patents from an operating company in a move suggesting that litigation over the received assets is coming.

Eastern District of Texas Chief Judge Rodney Gilstrap has adopted the report of Magistrate Judge Roy S. Payne recommending the denial of a Penney OpCo (d/b/a JCPenney) motion challenging patents asserted by Nearby Systems LLC, an Empire IP LLC plaintiff, against it under Alice. JCPenney argued that the claims of those patents are ineligibly directed to the abstract idea of “combining mapping data into a single map”; Judge Payne disagreed, recommending that “[w]hile the value and novelty of such a configuration is not at issue under §101, the Court is satisfied that it is sufficiently concrete to survive §101”. The court’s order likely dooms a parallel motion filed by another defendant in the campaign, Dollar General, which remains pending before Judges Payne and Gilstrap.

Ten days after suing ecobee (for the second time), IoT Innovations LLC, an Empire IP LLC plaintiff, has filed an Eastern District of Wisconsin complaint against Generac (Generac Power Systems) (2:24-cv-01178). Seven patents are asserted in the new case, with infringement allegations focused on the provision of “remote security and control platform and systems”, including the Generac Mobile Link system and related products (i.e., the Mobile Link mobile app and Mobile Link Cellular 4G LTE device), as well as the Generac EV Chargers and related products (i.e., the Generac EV Charging mobile app).

IoT Innovations LLC, an Empire IP LLC plaintiff, has sued Generac (ecobee) (2:24-cv-00729) and Resideo Technologies (Snap One) (2:24-cv-00704), both in the Eastern District of Texas. ecobee is already a defendant in this campaign, now targeted with 17 patents over the provision of its “home security and control platform and systems”, including ecobee’s smart home platform, smart thermostats, smart cameras, smart plugs and sensors, and related products and services. The Snap One complaint, the first to hit this defendant, aims seven of those patents at the provision of its various smart home and security products as provided under the brand name Control4 Smart Home.

Hon Hai Precision Industry (Belkin) (2:24-cv-07486), PowerFleet (2:24-cv-00718), and Senao Networks (2:24-cv-00705) are the latest defendants to be sued in the litigation campaign that Empire IP LLC plaintiff Fleet Connect Solutions LLC (FCS) launched in December 2020 over a portfolio of patents acquired from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV). The 14 patents-in-suit, asserted in overlapping sets, are broadly directed to various aspects of wireless communications, including container status transmission, field assessment technologies, and packet transmission. The defendants are accused of infringement through a wide array of products, ranging from fleet management systems to networking devices, with support for various wireless communication capabilities—including Bluetooth, IEEE 802.11ac/b/n, and LTE—at issue.

Empire IP LLC plaintiff IoT Innovations LLC acquired a portfolio of 40 patents from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV) through four separate July 2022 assignments. It began suing over them in November of that year, first hitting Savant Systems (Savant Technologies) in October 2023. Savant responded to that first complaint with a motion to dismiss, challenging the three asserted patents as patent-ineligibly directed to abstract ideas, under Alice. IoT Innovations filed a second complaint, in January 2024. An Alice motion followed. IoT Innovations filed a third complaint, in April 2024. An Alice motion followed. Now, the plaintiff has filed a fourth complaint (1:24-cv-01403), perhaps triggering a countdown clock.

Fleet Connect Solutions LLC (FCS), an Empire IP LLC plaintiff, continues to expand the campaign, begun back in December 2020 over a portfolio of patents acquired from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV), most recently suing Somfy (2:24-cv-00465) in the Eastern District of Texas over five of those assets. Targeted is the provision of “smart home hubs and ecosystems”, including the Somfy TaHoma Gateway and Somfy TaHoma Switch, that support certain features related to wireless communications, including 802.11n. FCS’s campaign is playing out in multiple venues across the country, several of which impose heightened disclosure requirements, in response to which FCS has repeatedly certified that no nonparties, including no persons, have a financial, pecuniary, or other interest in the outcome of its litigation.

Last month’s review of notable patent assignments considered the movement of assets from Avaya to Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC; from Level 3 Communications to Sandpiper CDN, LLC; from Seiko Epson to IPValue’s 138 East LCD Advancements Ltd. and Lumitek Display Technology Ltd.; from Transaction Security to a “BioCrypt Access”; from Fortress Investment Group LLC’s KIP Prod P1 LP to Prodea Automation LLC; from EMM Patents Ltd. to Empire IP LLC; from Siemens and Abdelsalam Helal to Rokiot USA LLC; and from Proxicom Wireless, LLC to Secure Communication Technologies, LLC. While a couple of these entities again feature prominently, this month’s review extends well beyond them to cover the movement of patents away from other operating companies, as well as within several repeat monetization players.

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.

Juniper Networks (1:24-cv-01935) is the latest defendant to be added to the sole litigation campaign of Fleet Connect Solutions LLC (FCS), a plaintiff associated with Texas monetization firm Empire IP LLC. In the new Northern District of Georgia complaint, FCS asserts seven wireless communications patents, each received from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV). Juniper Networks is accused of infringement over a wide array of networking products (e.g., access points, firewalls, and routers) that support Bluetooth, IEEE 802.11ac/b/n, and LTE connectivity.