Cellular Communications Equipment LLC (CCE), a subsidiary of publicly traded NPE Acacia Research Corporation, has filed its first round of litigation in roughly two years, hitting BBK Electronics (One Plus Technology) (2:20-cv-00079), HMD Global (2:20-cv-00078), and TCL (2:20-cv-00080) in separate suits filed in the Eastern District of Texas. While over its seven-year life, this campaign has seen more than 20 patents asserted, against nearly two dozen defendants, the current complaints assert a single patent, generally related to a mobile operating system with a software process that checks whether an application has permissions to perform a function. The defendants are alleged to infringe that patent through the provision of smartphones running Google’s Android 4.2 or higher, targeting the devices’ inclusion of the native Android Messaging app.

Yet another set of patents originating with VoiceAge Corporation has now been asserted in NPE litigation, this time in partnership with Fortress Investment Group LLC. In December 2018, VoiceAge announced a “strategic transaction” with Fortress under which the investment firm would license VoiceAge’s portfolio related to the Enhanced Voice Services (EVS) wideband audio codec—with that portfolio assigned to Fortress “affiliate” VoiceAge EVS, LLC. That entity has now asserted five of those patents in litigation, accusing HMD Global (1:19-cv-01945) of infringement through the provision of Nokia-branded smartphones supporting EVS and alleging that the patents-in-suit are essential to that standard. VoiceAge has stated that its transaction with Fortress is designed to “advance . . . [VoiceAge’s] strategic objective of diversifying revenues from [its] IP assets”. This deal follows another partnership between VoiceAge and publicly traded Acacia Research Corporation that appears to have started in 2014, leading to the launch of a litigation campaign that year through Acacia subsidiary Saint Lawrence Communications LLC. That campaign remains active after being revived in August 2018 by licensee EVS Codec Technologies, LLC, with Saint Lawrence later dragged back into the campaign over a standing dispute.

Publicly traded NPEs Acacia Research Corporation and Finjan Holdings, Inc. have each provided updates on litigation filed in Germany as part of their third-quarter earnings announcements. The German infringement suit brought by Acacia’s Saint Lawrence Communications GmbH against Apple proceeds in parallel with invalidity actions brought by Apple and Motorola Mobility, while in the US Apple has pursued its own litigation against Acacia, asserting various claims related to the NPE’s allegedly unfair and anticompetitive licensing practices in that campaign. Meanwhile, a neutral expert has been appointed in Finjan’s German lawsuit against ESET as trial comes to a close in its US litigation against Blue Coat Systems, with invalidity actions also pending for that campaign in Germany and the US.

In October 2017, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) saw the filing of petitions for inter partes review (IPR) against a variety of frequent litigants, including publicly traded NPEs Acacia Research Corporation and Xperi Corporation, as well as privately held Monument Patent Holdings, LLC and Uniloc Corporation Pty. Limited. The Board also instituted trial in October for IPRs against multiple Acacia subsidiaries, Uniloc, and Papst Licensing GmbH & Company Kg. In addition, the PTAB issued an IPR final decision cancelling multiple claims from a data compression patent held by prolific plaintiff Realtime Data LLC, including the single claim that Riverbed Technology (one of the petitioners for the IPR) was found to infringe in a $4.3M verdict in May, with other final decisions issued in campaigns waged by TQ Delta LLC and publicly traded Quarterhill Inc. IPRs against IP Bridge, Inc. and Mobile Telecommunications Technologies, LLC also ended in termination in October after the patent owners requested adverse judgments.

Multiple companies already active in Acacia Research Corporation’s Cellular Communications Equipment LLC (CCE) campaign have been sued once more, over former Nokia patents yet again. The NPE’s October 12 complaint (3:17-cv-02805), filed in the Northern District of Texas, asserts three previously litigated patents against mobile device maker ZTE, together with wireless carriers AT&T (AT&T Mobility), Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile), SoftBank (Boost Mobile, Sprint Solutions, Sprint Spectrum), Verizon (Cellco Partnership d/b/a Verizon Wireless); the defendants are accused of infringement through provision of various mobile devices with cellular service. CCE’s latest filing—its first in nearly six months—follows Acacia’s announcement last month that CCE and Parthenon Unified Memory Architecture LLC had entered into an agreement with Apple “to resolve patent litigation”.

Following a first quarter that saw a decline in year-over-year revenue of 64 percent, Acacia Research Corporation released its Q2 2017 earnings on July 27, revealing yet another dramatic drop in revenue, along with layoffs.

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) saw petitions for AIA review filed against a variety of prolific litigants in June 2017, including General Patent Corporation, Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV), Quarterhill Inc. (f/k/a Wi-LAN Inc.), Realtime Data LLC, Uniloc Corporation Pty. Limited, and Xperi Corporation (f/k/a Tessera Holding Corporation). Also in June, the PTAB instituted trial for petitions brought against patents asserted in a variety of sprawling campaigns, including some waged by Acacia Research Corporation, IV, Papst Licensing, Quarterhill, and VirnetX Inc. The Board further issued final decisions throughout June in AIA reviews against patents involved in several notable campaigns, including some waged by Document Security Systems, Inc., Elm 3DS Innovations LLC, Empire IP LLC, and Quarterhill.

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) saw 54 petitions for AIA review brought against NPEs in May, up from 20 such petitions filed in April. May PTAB filings included a resurgence in petitions against publicly traded NPEs, including Acacia Research Corporation; Pendrell Corporation; Quest Patent Research Corporation; VoIP-Pal.com, Inc.; Xperi Corporation (f/k/a Tessera Holding Corporation); and Wi-LAN Inc. (WiLAN) (which was renamed to Quarterhill Inc. on June 1). A variety of private litigants were also hit by PTAB petitions in May, including Blackbird Tech LLC, Global Equity Management (SA) Pty. Ltd., General Patent Corporation, Realtime Data LLC, and Uniloc Corporation Pty. Limited.

Cellular Communications Equipment LLC (CCE) has filed another new suit in its nearly four-year litigation campaign, asserting more former Nokia patents against many of the same defendants targeted by its earlier cases. The NPE’s April 19 complaint against Apple, AT&T, SOFTBANK (Boost Mobile, Sprint), T-Mobile, and Verizon (including subsidiary Cellco) (6:17-cv-00225) accuses the defendants of infringing four patents, two of which have not been previously seen in litigation. This latest filing, CCE’s fifth in 2017, follows several recent court wins for parent company Acacia Research Corporation, which last year announced a strategic refocus.

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) continued to see the filing of petitions for inter partes review (IPR) against publicly traded NPEs in March 2017, including Acacia Research Corporation; Finjan Holdings, Inc.; Pendrell Corporation; TiVo Corporation (formerly known as Rovi Corporation); and Wi-LAN Inc. (WiLAN). A variety of prolific, privately held NPEs were also targeted for IPR throughout March, including Blackbird Tech LLC, General Patent Corporation, IP Edge LLC, Realtime Data LLC, and Papst Licensing GmbH & Company Kg, along with several inventors and inventor-controlled NPEs and an assortment of other plaintiffs.