As extensively reported by RPX, the acquisition and assertion of operating company patents by NPEs remained a significant driver of litigation throughout 2020. Be prepared for this long-term trend to possibly accelerate as a result of the COVID-19 recession. If past is prologue, the current financial crisis will likely be followed by years of increased patent divestments by operating companies—including to NPEs.

Three April 2020 assignments from operating companies to NPEs were recently recorded with the USPTO—two from Xerox and subsidiary Palo Alto Research Corporation (PARC) to an IP Edge LLC affiliate, comprising over 130 US assets; and one from Huawei to an NPE with ties to EVS Codec Technologies, LLC, whose codec campaign asserting former VoiceAge patents remains active.

Having launched over a dozen new campaigns during the first half of 2020, public records indicate that IP Edge LLC continues to create new Texas NPEs—including at least 20 in the past three months alone. It also appears to have a full pipeline of patents poised for litigation, with USPTO records reflecting a number of patent assignments to various IP Edge affiliates recorded this month. Meanwhile, multiple recent internal transfers among IP Edge NPEs gave rise to new litigation filed this past week.