The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) continued to see petitions for AIA review filed against prolific litigants in July, including a wave of petitions against Uniloc Corporation Pty. Limited across four separate campaigns, with petitions also brought against General Patent Corporation, Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV), Papst Licensing GmbH & Company Kg, and Quarterhill Inc. Meanwhile, throughout July, the Board instituted trial for inter partes reviews (IPRs) filed in semiconductor campaigns waged by Harvard University and the California Institute of Technology, with trial also instituted in campaigns related to network data compression (Realtime Data LLC), servers and data management (IV), and anti-malware technology (Finjan Holdings, Inc.). Final decisions issued by the Board in July included one that cancelled claims from a patent that has been asserted by Rothschild Connected Devices Innovations, LLC, an NPE controlled by inventor Leigh M. Rothschild, against more than 60 defendants.

The Federal Circuit has overturned a Texas judge’s decision to deny attorney fees in a case brought against ADS Security (2:15-cv-01431) by Rothschild Connected Devices Innovations, LLC (RCDI), an NPE controlled by inventor Leigh M. Rothschild. In an opinion issued on June 5, the Federal Circuit ruled that Magistrate Judge Roy S. Payne had erred by holding that RCDI’s litigation conduct was not “exceptional” under Octane. Rather, the Federal Circuit found that the district court had improperly relied on affidavits filed by Rothschild and RCDI’s counsel regarding the plaintiff’s “good faith” belief in the validity of the asserted patent (8,788,090), had “misjudged” Rothschild’s broader litigation conduct, and had “conflated” 35 U.S.C. Section 285 with Rule 11 (governing sanctions) in its analysis (2016-2521).

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.

Ten auto manufacturers comprise the latest round of companies to be sued by Rothschild Connected Devices Innovations, LLC (RCDI). The NPE, formed in December 2014 by inventor Leigh M. Rothschild, has added complaints against BMW (2:15-cv-01874), Fiat (2:15-cv-01875), Ford (2:15-cv-01876), Honda (2:15-cv-01877), Hyundai (2:15-cv-01878), Mazda (2:15-cv-01879), Mercedes-Benz (2:15-cv-01880), Subaru (2:15-cv-01881), Toyota (2:15-cv-01979), and Volvo (2:15-cv-01882) in its Texas campaign. RCDI asserts a single patent (8,788,090) against the carmakers, as it has in all but one of the cases in the campaign.

Rothschild Connected Devices Innovations, LLC (RCDI), an NPE formed in December 2014 by inventor Leigh M. Rothschild, has added nine more defendants to its only litigation campaign. RCDI has asserted a single patent (8,788,090) in the campaign, this time in two groups of suits filed roughly one week apart. The first set of complaints was filed against Nexia (2:15-cv-01574), Rheem (2:15-cv-01576), SmartLabs (2:15-cv-01573), and TCP (2:15-cv-01577), while the second group targeted phone companies: AT&T (2:15-cv-01646), Sprint (2:15-cv-01643), Ting (2:15-cv-01645), T-Mobile (2:15-cv-01642), U.S. Cellular (2:15-cv-01646), and Verizon (2:15-cv-01646).

Newly formed Rothschild Connected Devices Innovations, LLC sued 19 companies in a single day for alleged patent infringement, including ADT, Belkin, Brick House, Cisco, General Electric, Honeywell, NETGEAR, OnStar, Panasonic, Philips, Rain Bird, Sharp, Toshiba, Tyco, Uniden, and Vivint. Rothschild alleges the companies’ customizable systems, including security systems and home appliances, infringe a patent related to customizing consumer products based on user preferences (8,788,090). This appears to be the first time the patent, which was issued in July 2014, has been asserted in litigation.