In September, RPX noted the assignment of over 20 issued US patents from Altaba Inc. (f/k/a Yahoo! Inc.), through Excalibur IP, LLC, to Eureka Database Solutions, LLC, an affiliate of Monument Patent Holdings, LLC. Three of the patents from the largest family of those transacted patents, generally related to annotating and locating “items of interest” within multimedia data, have now been asserted in litigation: Eureka Database has filed separate lawsuits against Kaltura (1:17-cv-01529) and Panopto (1:17-cv-01530). At issue are the defendants’ video search features (Kaltura’s Video Discovery and Search and Panopto’s Smart Search).

RPX reported in early October the assignment of 15 patents from TP Lab, Inc. to Local Intelligence, LLC, an affiliate of Monument Patent Holdings, LLC. The NPE has now filed its first suit, targeting Galaxy S6, S7, and S8 smartphones made and sold by Samsung (2:17-cv-00716). Three related patents that broadly concern updating a phone’s display with a location-specific “communication service” are asserted, with the complaint’s allegations focusing on the use of navigation services (e.g., Google Maps), including the presentation of an edge display listing “My Places” for the user.

Preferential Networks IP, LLC has filed a new lawsuit against Charter (2:17-cv-00709) in the wake of its late-August complaint against T-Mobile (2:17-cv-00626). As in the latter case and the NPE’s previous lawsuits against AT&T (AT&T Mobility, Cricket Wireless, New Cingular Wireless Services), Comcast, and SoftBank Group (Boost Mobile, Sprint Spectrum, Virgin Mobile), Preferential Networks accuses Charter of infringement through the provision of “network throttling” mechanisms (e.g., restricting delivery of data to a user based on prior usage). Its latest complaint follows District Judge Rodney Gilstrap’s decision to adopt an earlier recommendation by Magistrate Judge Roy S. Payne that an AT&T Alice challenge against the patent-in-campaign should be denied.

First-Class Monitoring, LLC, an affiliate of Monument Patent Holdings, LLC, has added Comerica (6:17-cv-00580) to its sole litigation campaign following the September dismissal of its case against JPMorgan Chase (6:17-cv-00365). The NPE’s February cases against two other financial services defendants, Bank of America (2:17-cv-00111) and Citigroup (6:17-cv-00110), were dismissed in April and May, respectively. As in those previous cases, Comerica’s text message banking services are at issue in this latest complaint.

On October 5, the same day that Weatherproof Wireless, LLC filed a motion for voluntary dismissal of its June case against Digi International, the subsidiary of Monument Patent Holdings, LLC filed two new suits, against Itron (1:17-cv-03920) and Silver Spring Networks (1:17-cv-01395). The patent-in-suit generally relates to a wireless router with weatherproof housing, including an antenna, a mounting bracket, and a “wire harness” for electrical connection. Weatherproof Wireless accuses the defendants of infringement through the manufacture and sale of “access gateway and wireless router pods”, naming the Itron CCU 100 and the Silver Spring Networks Access Points.

Various image processing techniques allegedly performed in certain televisions made and sold by Samsung (2:17-cv-00645) have been targeted in the latest complaint filed by Visual Effect Innovations, LLC (VEI), a subsidiary of Monument Patent Holdings, LLC. The two patents asserted in the new complaint are already at issue in the campaign, which began in December 2016 with a case against NVIDIA and saw suits against LG Electronics and Sony added earlier this month. Televisions, monitors, and laser projectors are the focus of these latter complaints, with NVIDIA’s 3D glasses with “independent lens control”, as well as a variety of NVIDIA graphics cards used to display 3D video games, targeted in the first case.

Visual Effect Innovations, LLC (VEI), a subsidiary of Monument Patent Holdings, LLC, has filed cases against LG Electronics (LGE) (1:17-cv-01275) and Sony (1:17-cv-01276) in the campaign that it began last December with a suit against NVIDIA. VEI’s original complaint against NVIDIA asserted two patents, generally related to 3D filters, against NVIDIA’s 3D glasses with “independent lens control”, but in July, the NPE filed an amended complaint in that case, adding two video image processing patents and accompanying, new infringement allegations against a variety of NVIDIA graphics cards used to display 3D video games, among other things. These latest complaints add to the campaign a fifth patent, issued by the USPTO in July, from the same 21-member family, with the set of accused products now sweeping in televisions, monitors, and laser projectors.

On August 31, 2017, District Judge Rodney Gilstrap adopted the earlier recommendation of Magistrate Judge Roy S. Payne that the portion of a motion, filed by AT&T, mounting an Alice challenge to claims of a patent asserted by Preferential Networks IP, LLC be denied. That same day, Preferential Networks filed a fourth lawsuit in the campaign, accusing T-Mobile (2:17-cv-00626) of infringement of the same patent through provision of “network throttling” mechanisms (e.g., restricting delivery of data to a user based on prior usage) within its network. The defendants in the campaign, begun last December, now include AT&T (AT&T Mobility, Cricket Wireless, New Cingular Wireless Services), Comcast, SoftBank Group (Boost Mobile, Sprint Spectrum, Virgin Mobile), and T-Mobile.

Blue Sky Networks, LLC, a subsidiary of Monument Patent Holdings, LLC, has added a new suit, against Best Buy (1:17-cv-00750), to the campaign that it began this past February. Best Buy is accused of infringement through the provision of a variety of Bluetooth-compatible products, including laptops and desktops, smartphones and tablets, car stereos, wireless headphones and speakers, cameras, and computer peripherals, among others. Earlier accused products have included certain computing devices capable of LTE-compliant communications, mobile devices using Bluetooth to discover nearby devices, the chips inside such devices, and in-vehicle infotainment systems. The new complaint asserts the same eight patents already asserted in the campaign, adding a ninth patent related to one of the two families at issue.

MediaTek (3:17-cv-04232) is a defendant in the first case to be added to the litigation campaign of Monument Patent Holdings, LLC subsidiary Wireless Switch IP, LLC after its transfer from the Eastern District of Texas to the Northern District of California. The NPE agreed to the move of its earlier cases against Acer, ASUS, and Lenovo and has now sued MediaTek, together with California-based Seeed, over the same two patents (7,356,351; 7,647,070). The patents generally relate to mobile devices that can shut off network connectivity while still providing “local functionality”. MediaTek and Seeed are accused of infringement through the provision of a product they co-developed, LinkIt Assist 2505, an Internet of Things (IoT) and wearables development kit that includes hardware with a switch to turn Wi-Fi functionality on and off.