In a new Eastern District of Texas complaint, Empire Technology Development LLC has accused Samsung (2:23-cv-00427) of infringing two wireless communications patents through the provision of certain Galaxy-series smartphones based on their alleged support for Qualcomm’s Smart Transmit technology and/or 5G compatibility. The accumulation of patent assets by Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV) acquisition, especially through the 2007-2010 timeframe, is well documented; less well understood has been the number of patent assets for which IV was granted an exclusive license. Empire Technology, a subsidiary of Allied Inventors Management, LLC (AIM), now pleads that it is just such a licensee.

USPTO records indicate that in May, an entity associated with Allied Security Trust (AST) assigned a portfolio of wireless networking patents to a recently formed Texas NPE. The transacted portfolio originates with Empire Technology Development LLC—a subsidiary of Allied Inventors Management, LLC (AIM)—and the NPE now holding the portfolio is controlled by a familiar name in patent monetization.

Having launched over a dozen new campaigns during the first half of 2020, public records indicate that IP Edge LLC continues to create new Texas NPEs—including at least 20 in the past three months alone. It also appears to have a full pipeline of patents poised for litigation, with USPTO records reflecting a number of patent assignments to various IP Edge affiliates recorded this month. Meanwhile, multiple recent internal transfers among IP Edge NPEs gave rise to new litigation filed this past week.

RPX completed a number of deals in March 2020 on behalf of its patent risk management network. The acquisitions occurred within the following market sectors: E-Commerce and Software; Mobile Communications and Devices; Networking; and Semiconductors.

Late 2019/early 2020 saw prolific NPE IP Edge LLC—which has filed over 100 new patent cases since the start of this year—acquire patent portfolios from a variety of sources, including Huawei; a litigating subsidiary of IP Value Management (d/b/a IPValue); and a subsidiary of Allied Inventors Management, LLC. The transactions discussed in this article have placed in IP Edge’s hands assets originating with AMD, Cypress Semiconductor, Fujitsu, and Huawei, among others—some of which it has already begun litigating.

In December 2018, Empire Technology Development LLC, a subsidiary of Allied Inventors Management, LLC (AIM), granted a security interest in thousands of patent assets to Crestline Direct Finance, a subsidiary of Crestline Investors. Between May 2019 and March 2020, as part of an apparent effort to wind down monetization efforts, Empire Technology has recorded a series of releases of the Crestline security interest over batches of those patents, several of which were inked just before assignment of the batches to third parties, including to both operating companies and NPEs. One of those NPEs has already begun litigating the recently received patent.

RPX took note of several patent asset transfers to NPEs recorded during the second half of December 2016. Assignees included Texas NPE Synergy Drone LLC, Nevada NPE Jonker LLC, and Delaware NPE Empire Technology Development LLC, and the named inventors on the different patent assets form an eclectic bunch.

RPX took note of eleven patent transfers to NPEs recorded during the first half of November 2016. Assignees included entities controlled by Wi-LAN, Inc.; Marathon Patent Holdings, LLC; or IP Valuation Partners LLC; NPEs apparently affiliated with Intellectual Ventures LLC or Equitable IP Corporation; and entities managed by Erik Stamell, Leigh M. Rothschild, or Nicolas J. Labbit. Also this month, BlackBird Tech LLC, which has waged 11 litigation campaigns to date, acquired a patent that was asserted against 70 companies in a large NPE campaign that closed earlier this year.

In the second half of June 2016, RPX saw over 20 patent transfers to NPEs recorded with the USPTO. A number of those transactions involved patents that have been asserted in litigation against operating companies—some as recently as this past week.

During the first half of April 2016, RPX saw eleven patent transfers to known NPEs recorded with the USPTO. One of those transactions involved a patent that has already been asserted in litigation against operating companies.