Panther Innovations, LLC has sued Sony (2:22-cv-00387) over the provision of the PlayStation 3D Display and SimulView Gaming Glasses, targeting core features that allow users wearing the glasses to each view different full-screen frames. Two patents are asserted in the new Eastern District of Texas complaint, only one of which was in suit in the same district in an uneventful litigation running from June 2021 to January 2022 against LG and LG Electronics. Panther voluntarily dismissed that case, without specifying whether it was doing so with or without prejudice.

Panther Innovations LLC, an NPE with ties to several other litigating plaintiffs, has launched a third litigation campaign, suing LG and LG Electronics (LGE) (2:21-cv-00232) in the Eastern District of Texas over a single patent generally related to “viewing different game content in a full screen on a same television”. The NPE targets the defendants over the provision of the Dual Play gaming feature—which allows users to view a split-screen game as a full screen through certain 3D glasses and displays—as well as certain TVs and displays that support it.

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.

Panther Innovations LLC, an NPE with ties to several other litigating plaintiffs, has launched a second litigation campaign from a portfolio of patents received from Ascentive LLC. The NPE asserts two patents, broadly directed to optimizing “network configuration settings”, against Microsoft (6:20-cv-01071) in the Western District of Texas. Microsoft is accused of infringement through the provision of certain network optimization features—TCP-auto-tune, Congestion Provider, and Scaling Heuristics functionalities—incorporated in its Windows Vista, 7, 8, and 10 operating systems.

Liberty Patents LLC, an NPE with ties to several other litigating plaintiffs, has sued Acer (2:20-cv-00287), ASUSTek (2:20-cv-00288), HP (2:20-cv-00289), Micro-Star International (2:20-cv-00290), and Panasonic (2:20-cv-00291) over the provision of a wide variety of computing devices, including those that incorporate certain ARM-branded processors, support certain charging features, are Platform Security Architecture (PSA) certified, and/or use Google’s ChromeOS firmware. Three patents are asserted across the new complaints, Liberty Patents having acquired them as part of a 100-plus asset pickup from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV) in December 2019.

Several patent assignments made public by the USPTO last month suggest that multiple new NPE campaigns asserting former operating company patents are in the works. The portfolios now in NPE hands include patents originating with Chungwa Picture Tubes, IBM, L3Harris, Motorola, Olympus, Polaroid, Rockwell Automation, Samsung, and Sanyo, among others.