Texas NPE Crystal Clear Codec, LLC has sued LG Electronics (LGE) (6:21-cv-00375) over the provision of smartphones, as well as products incorporating certain Qualcomm Snapdragon-series chipsets and MediaTek 4G LTE modems, that support the Enhanced Voice Services (EVS) codec through LGE’s Enhanced HD Voice, Ultra HD Voice, or HD Voice+ services. Six patents, received from Huawei, are asserted in the new Western District of Texas complaint, Crystal Clear Codec pleading that the patents “were issued as part of the development of the new and improved methods and systems that were ultimately adopted as the EVS Standard” and are “generally drawn to the EVS codec”.

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.