On December 30, 2015, Acacia subsidiaries Innovative Display Technologies LLC (IDT) and Delaware Display Group LLC (DDG) filed new cases against Lenovo (1:15-cv-01220), LG Electronics (1:15-cv-01221), and VIZIO (1:15-cv-01222).  Each case asserts three patents (7,384,177; 7,404,660; 7,434,973) that the NPEs were forced to drop in related cases, also active in the District of Delaware. In October, Judge Richard Andrews agreed to stay those related cases entirely unless IDT/DDG agreed to drop, without prejudice, its claims of infringement as to the ‘177, ‘660, and ‘973 patents, each of which is subject to an instituted inter partes review (IPR) based on petitions filed by LG (IPR2015-00489 (‘177 patent), IPR2015-00487 (‘660 patent), IPR2015-00506 (‘973 patent)). IDT/DDG dropped those patents from the earlier cases, Judge Andrews denied the motion to stay, the earlier cases proceeded, and IDT/DDG has now filed these separate actions for infringement. In their complaints, the NPEs expressly agree to stays of the new cases pending resolution of the instituted IPRs.

The latest wave of patent infringement suits filed by Acacia subsidiaries Innovative Display Technologies (IDT) and Delaware Display Group (DDG) targeted AT&T (2:14-cv-00720), Sprint (2:14-cv-00721), T-Mobile (2:14-cv-00723), and Verizon (2:14-cv-00722). Each suit asserts at least seven of a group of eight patents related to LCD components (6,755,547; 7,300,194; 7,384,177; 7,404,660; 7,434,974; 7,537,370; 7,914,196; 8,215,816). The complaints accuse defendants’ mobile phones and tablets with a liquid crystal display of infringing the asserted patents. According to plaintiffs, some of the accused products are manufactured by Samsung; however, the allegations of infringement with regard to Samsung products are limited to only those manufactured after March 2, 2014.