Last week, RPX raised the possibility of IP Edge LLC’s practices—specifically, the naming of Texas residents with seemingly no discernible connections to patent monetization as managers or managing members of most of its LLCs—sliding under the judicial microscope. On September 12, District of Delaware Chief Judge Colm F. Connolly ordered a handful of such individuals to appear, in person, at evidentiary hearings to determine whether a group of apparent IP Edge plaintiffs has complied with his standing order regarding the disclosure of any third-party litigation funding. A similar order has been issued in multiple cases associated with Dynamic IP Deals, LLC (d/b/a DynaIP), Judge Connolly setting an October hearing to determine the accuracy of those plaintiffs’ amended corporate disclosure statements. Perhaps unsurprisingly, voluntary dismissals have been noticed across these cases, ending the court’s jurisdiction over the matters.

Evidence of IP Edge LLC’s frequent practice of naming individuals—seemingly with no discernible connections to patent monetization—as managers or managing members of its various LLCs has long been reported by RPX. Now, with Amazon having recently brought that practice to the attention of Chief Judge Colm F. Connolly, and with a raft of amended disclosures filed on the same day last week by a handful of apparent IP Edge plaintiffs litigating before that same judge, the coming months may see the full extent of that setup, and its bearing on standing, come to light.

By the end of April, IP Edge LLC had initiated three litigation campaigns over patents from among the five that it acquired, through controlled entity Spindletop IP LLC, from Monterey Research, LLC, a subsidiary of IPValue Management (d/b/a IPValue). The original development work for the patents was conducted at Cypress Semiconductor (acquired by Infineon Technologies this April); with those assets, IP Edge plaintiffs Celebration IP LLC (targeting chipsets that control the discharge of lithium ion batteries); Forutome IP LLC (devices that feature a programmable tri-state buffer); and Pearl IP Licensing LLC (devices that feature processors with Resource Power Management (RPM) circuits) have each begun litigation. Last week, as Celebration IP and Forutome IP expanded each of their campaigns, IP Edge launched a new one from the former Cypress patents, through Heritage IP LLC.

In mid-February 2020, Texas monetization firm IP Edge LLC, through controlled entity Spindletop IP LLC, picked up five patents formerly held by Cypress Semiconductor (acquired by Infineon Technologies in April 2020) from Monterey Research, LLC, a subsidiary of IPValue Management (d/b/a IPValue). Three of those patents have subsequently been asserted in litigation through campaigns launched by IP Edge plaintiffs Celebration IP LLC, targeting chipsets that control the discharge of lithium ion batteries; Forutome IP LLC, devices that feature a programmable tri-state buffer; and Pearl IP Licensing LLC, devices that feature processors with Resource Power Management (RPM) circuits; each of which has seen defendants added over the past couple of weeks.