The earlier-announced divestiture of patents from Innolux to a well-established monetization operation has taken shape in assignment records recently made public. Those records also reflect the continued divestiture of patents, along established pathways, into hands that suggest that monetization may at some point be in the works. Meanwhile, another batch of US patent assets has moved in the other direction, from monetization operation to operating company.

One well-established monetization operation has announced the acquisition of a portfolio of patents from Innolux, while another is the recipient of yet another batch of patents assembled and divested from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV). Meanwhile, a newer monetization team has picked up a set of patents from an operating company in a move suggesting that litigation over the received assets is coming.

RPX’s last look at notable patent assignments considered the movement of assets to Ueran Technology LLC from Huawei; to AX Wireless, LLC from SOLiD; to VideoLabs, Inc. from DCX US Agility Platform LLC, a subsidiary of DXC Technology; to Flash Uplink LLC from its publicly traded parent Quest Patent Research Corporation (QPRC); to various entities from Ascend Innovation Management, LLC entities; and to Nera Innovations Limited from multiple entities associated with Atlantic IP Services. It is time for a review of additional notable transfers recorded since then.

Recently recorded patent assignments made public by the USPTO contain noteworthy transfers to multiple plaintiffs now in litigation, including a new source of patents for Apex Beam Technologies LLC, a new source of patents for Pantech Corporation, and a familiar source of patent rights for Crystal Leap Zrt, this time assigning patents directly, though. Movement can also be seen from troubled patent monetization firm IP Edge LLC, as well as movement from various sources to patent broker Allied Security Trust. Take a look.

The case that Longitude Licensing Limited filed this past April against Hon Hai Precision Industry (Sharp) (2:23-cv-00165) over the provision of liquid crystal displays (LCDs) lasted about three months. It was dismissed without prejudice in July. Now, Longitude has asserted an overlapping set of former Seiko Epson patents against BOE Technology (2:23-cv-00515), targeting the provision of certain LCD panels and modules, which are alleged to be incorporated in third party devices such as “smartphones, tablet PCs, laptops, monitors, TVs, and vehicle infotainment displays” from HP and LG.

So far this year, Longitude Licensing Limited has expanded its litigation targeting customers of Western Digital, initiated two separate additional campaigns, and been added to a case brought by an apparent exclusive licensee. Most recently, the subsidiary of patent advisory firm IPValue Management (d/b/a IPValue), itself held by Vector Capital Corporation, has sued Alphabet (Google) (3:23-cv-03046), targeting the provision of certain image processing tools, including Real Tone, Portrait Mode, Face Unblur, and more, within Pixel smartphones and tablets, as well as its “photo-related applications,” including Google Photos and Snapseed. Before that, in April 2023, Longitude Licensing sued Hon Hai Precision Industry (Sharp) (2:23-cv-00165) over the provision of liquid crystal display (LCD) devices, panels, and/or modules incorporated into certain TVs, monitors, notebook computers, smartphones, tablets, and vehicle infotainment displays, that complaint flagging accused LCD products incorporated into vehicles from BMW, Ford, Mazda, and Toyota; monitors from Sharp itself; smartphones from Sony; tablets from Microsoft; and TVs from LG Electronics (LGE) and VIZIO.

Longitude Licensing Limited has added suits against Acer (8:23-cv-00036), Amazon (8:23-cv-00039), ASUSTek (8:23-cv-00033), HP (8:23-cv-00038), and Lenovo (8:23-cv-00035) in the Central District of California to the case that Longitude filed last month against Dell in the same district. Each targets the provision or sale of Western Digital-branded memory components (e.g., flash memory, solid state drives, and memory chips), as well as products (e.g., computers, laptops, streaming devices, and tablets) incorporating such devices. In its complaints, the plaintiff pleads that in light of failed attempts to engage Western Digital in licensing negotiations, it began “contacting Western Digital customers who are selling products that infringe Longitude patents”.

In a new complaint filed in the Central District of California against Dell (8:22-cv-02312), Longitude Licensing Limited pleads a series of attempts to engage third party Western Digital in licensing negotiations. After a related arbitration proceeding “was dismissed on jurisdictional grounds”, the plaintiff turned to Dell, Longitude Licensing indicating that it sent a September 2022 letter representing that its “normal approach” would be to “engage with, and license, suppliers such as Western Digital rather than their customers” but because “Western Digital has refused to engage in any licensing discussions”, it began “contacting Western Digital customers who are selling products that infringe Longitude patents”. The new complaint has now followed, Longitude alleging infringement of three patents through the provision of laptops and tablets that incorporate certain Western Digital-branded memory devices (i.e., solid state drives and memory chips).

According to USPTO records, an Irish NPE received over 480 US patents from United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) in June of this year. Irish corporate records reflect ties between the NPE assignee and the monetization firm IPValue Management (d/b/a IPValue), which has over the years acquired thousands of patent assets directly from operating companies—including more than 1,200 assets recently received from the display business unit of Mitsubishi Electric.

An assignment of over 80 patents from Seiko Epson to an NPE with apparent ties to Longitude Licensing Limited was made public by the USPTO in late July. Also notable among recently recorded patent transfers is an assignment from the Illinois Institute of Technology to Blackbird Tech LLC.