Last month, RPX noted the February 2017 assignment of a two-patent family (6,094,676; 6,219,710), generally related to peer-to-peer communications, from Sapphire Dolphin LLC to TainoApp, Inc. TainoApp, Inc. TainoApp has now opened up a new litigation campaign over those patents, targeting various Bluetooth devices enabled with Near Field Communications (NFC) functionality: headphones of Koninklijke Philips (Philips Electronics) (2:17-cv-00333) and Sennheiser Electronic (2:17-cv-00336), pocket-sized photo printers of PLR IP Holdings and C&A IP Holdings (C+A Global) (2:17-cv-00334) and Zebra Technologies (ZIH) (2:17-cv-00337), and speakers made and/or sold by Anker Tech (2:17-cv-00329), Bose (2:17-cv-00330), Brookstone (3:17-cv-01519), Dov Enterprises (2:17-cv-00331), Numark (Ion Audio) (2:17-cv-00332), and PYLE Audio (2:17-cv-00335).

RPX took note, among the USPTO assignment records made available during the first half of March, of the transfer of one set of patents to Fortress Investment Group LLC, after the NPE assignor’s default on a prior financing agreement. Fortress intervened in the campaign asserting some of those patents, bringing the litigation to a relatively rapid close. RPX also took notice of the transfer of patents from multiple assignors to another entity, Knapp Investment Company Limited, a British Virgin Islands entity that has never filed suit. The records made available in early March also contain transfers to frequent plaintiffs, including affiliates of patent monetization firms IP Valuation Partners LLC and Monument Patent Holdings, LLC, as well as Blackbird Tech LLC and Empire IP LLC.

Since launching its first campaign in mid-March, TainoApp has sued Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Dell, HP, Kobo, Rakuten, and Sony. Two patents are asserted in the campaign although most cases assert one or the other patent; the case against Sony is the only one to assert both patents. Each case accuses defendants’ e-readers and tablets of infringement. The patents-in-suit relate to screen refreshing on digital video displays (7,034,791, 8,629,890). They were developed by inventor Gary Odom and sold through FTE Exchange, first to Tierra Intellectual Borinquen in December 2012 and then to TainoApp in December 2013. The correspondent address for both Tierra and TainoApp is the same and is also linked to other NPEs, including Chinook Licensing, Telenit, and Wildcat. TainoApp appears to have previously sold a service for making web content mobile compatible, but it is no longer operating; its website has been inactive since 2011 and its social media has been inactive since May 2012. RPX reviewed the asserted patents in two open market opportunities in 2009 and 2012. 3/14, District of Puerto Rico, 3:14cv01210, 3:14cv01212, 3:14cv01213, 3:14cv01214, 3:14cv01215, 3/25, District of Delaware, 1:14cv00381