Social Positioning Input Systems, LLC (SPIS), one of many NPEs controlled by prolific inventor Leigh M. Rothschild, has sued ClearPathGPS (2:21-cv-00519) in the Central District of California, Lytx (3:21-cv-00104) in the Southern District of California, and Particle Industries (3:21-cv-00464) in the Northern District of California. The sole patent-in-suit generally relates to transmitting the location information of a positional device, with the defendants accused of infringement through the provision of vehicle fleet tracking systems. Rothschild ended last year near the top of the list of frequent NPE plaintiffs, second only to Texas monetization firm IP Edge LLC.

Last year, Leigh M. Rothschild created yet a third NPE, Geographic Location Innovations, LLC (GLI), to continue his navigation and location services campaign begun in 2014. So far this month, GLI has filed six new cases, all in the Eastern District of Texas, asserting a single patent (7,917,285) generally related to navigational or positional information systems. The new defendants—BB&T, Capital One, The Kroger Co., Choice Hotels, Gym-Mark, and Phillips 66—are accused of infringement through location services offered on their websites (e.g. Capital One’s Branch & ATM Locator). GLI’s latest filings bring the total campaign defendant count to over 65.

Over the past few weeks, inventor and frequent plaintiff Leigh M. Rothschild has filed new rounds of cases through three of his existing subsidiaries—Geographic Location Services, LLC (GLS); Rothschild Broadcast Distribution Systems, LLC (RBDS); and Symbology Innovations, LLC. On November 14, he also created two more entities in Texas (Location Based Services, LLC and Rothschild Biometric Systems, LLC), continuing a general trend over the last year of moving his litigation from elsewhere (principally Delaware and Florida) to the Eastern District of Texas.

The number of infringement suits filed by NPEs controlled by inventor Leigh M. Rothschild sharply increased last year, with over 140 patent cases filed in 2015 compared to just 35 in 2014. In fact, according to RPX’s 2015 NPE Activity: Highlights report published on January 4, 2016, Rothschild ranked first among the top ten NPEs by campaign defendants added in 2015.

Rothschild Location Technologies LLC (RLT Texas) added Life360 (6:15-cv-00867) and Alohar Mobile (6:15-cv-00868) to the Eastern District of Texas portion of its sole litigation campaign. RLT Texas is controlled by individual inventor Leigh M. Rothschild. Its complaints assert a single patent (8,606,503) generally related to transmitting location information to a positional device and accuse the defendants of infringement through the location services associated with their apps. All of the over 15 Texas cases have either been quickly dismissed, the vast majority with prejudice, some after earlier court documents reference settlement, or remain open in pleadings.

Rothschild Location Technologies LLC‘s (RLT’s) new round of litigation goes after wireless service providers AT&T, Motorola Solutions, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon, as well as vehicle tracking software from Global Tracking Communications, Redtail Telematics Corporation, and Webtech Wireless. At issue in the suits are defendants’ software products that allow users to remotely enter and share location information. The cases assert two patents related to navigation systems, both of which name Leigh Rothschild as the inventor (7,917,285, 8,606,503). Volkswagen filed a petition for IPR on the ‘285 patent, which is still pending (IPR2015-00793). That company was sued by RLT in September 2014.