Based on a review of public records, RPX has tied multiple litigation campaigns started in Q4 2023 to specific third-party litigation funders, with targeted defendants spread across multiple market sectors, including Mobile Communications and Devices, Networking, E-Commerce and Software, and Consumer Electronics and PCs. The funded plaintiffs include NPEs as well as apparent operating companies, with a mix of familiar faces and new entrants.

The first case filed by Aspen Networks, Inc., in October against AT&T (AT&T Mobility), is just underway before Eastern District of Texas Judge Robert W. Schroeder III. The plaintiff, apparently backed by a prominent litigation funder, has now filed separate complaints against Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile) (2:23-cv-00558) and Verizon (Verizon Wireless) (2:23-cv-00557) in the same district, alleging infringement of the same patent. Aspen Networks describes that patent as “the fundamental technology required to reliably switch connections from a Wi-Fi network to a cellular network and vice versa without dropping the call”. Again targeted is the support of Voice over Wi-Fi (VoWi-Fi) in the defendants’ cell networks.

In a new Eastern District of Texas complaint, Aspen Networks, Inc. has accused AT&T (AT&T Mobility) (2:23-cv-00476) of infringing a single patent generally related to switching an audio or video transmission that utilizes the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) from one network path to another to ensure stream quality, perform load balancing, or for other administrative reasons without disrupting service. The inventor-controlled plaintiff targets the provision of Voice-over-Wi-Fi calling services, targeting the ability for users to “switch seamlessly between Wi-Fi and cellular long-term evolution (‘LTE’) networks based on the Quality of Service (‘QoS’) parameters of the network”.