Since April 2015, seven NPEs managed by two partners at IP Valuation Partners LLC have collectively filed over 30 patent infringement suits against operating companies. Six of these NPEs were incorporated in Texas in 2015. (Gene Reader LLC was incorporated in Texas in 2014.) Each NPE is managed by IP Valuation’s Jason Bourgeois (a former patent agent trained in biomedical engineering) or Jonathan Szarzynski (a former patent licensing director at IPNav). Spangler Law P.C. represents all seven of the NPEs in litigation.

On December 1, 2015, amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP), approved by the US Supreme Court in April 2015, took effect. The amendments touch several aspects of litigation in federal court but primarily focus on earlier stages, including pleading requirements, initial case management, and the scope of discovery. The changes appear to have motivated a significant number of filings in the weeks before the effective date of the changes, as over 580 patent infringement cases, including nearly 500 NPE cases, were filed in the last two weeks of November.