Prolific patent monetization firm IP Edge LLC shows no signs of slowing down in the New Year, with affiliated NPEs filing another round of cases in the first week of January. Ruby Sands LLC has added new lawsuits to its troubled mobile banking campaign, while Packet Tread LLC and Cypaleo LLC have continued to expand their respective communications campaigns. These latest cases follow a surge of filings by other IP Edge affiliates in the final months of 2016.

IP Edge LLC affiliate MagnaCross LLC has filed a fresh round of lawsuits, capping off a wave of year-end litigation by other NPEs also controlled by the prolific monetization firm. The latest MagnaCross complaints target Avaya (2:16-cv-01461), Comtrend (2:16-cv-01462), EnGenius (2:16-cv-01463), Huawei (2:16-cv-01464), Juniper Networks (2:16-cv-01465), Siemens (2:16-cv-01466), and Sierra Wireless (2:16-cv-01467), accusing the companies of infringing a single patent (6,917,304) generally related to wireless data transmission through the provision of wireless access points or routers.

In July 2016, the last of the 20 cases brought by Venadium LLC roughly one year earlier was dismissed with prejudice. Six weeks later, the NPE has rebooted its sole litigation campaign by filing five new lawsuits, one each against BuzzFeed (5:16-cv-00118), J.D. Power and Associates (5:16-cv-00119), LivingSocial (5:16-cv-00120), Spotify (5:16-cv-00121), and The Washington Post (5:16-cv-00122). A single, former Xerox patent (6,330,549) generally related to limiting software to authorized use is asserted. Perhaps in light of the shaky infringement allegations in Venadium’s first wave of suits, which targeted Bluetooth-enabled devices, these new complaints allege that the defendants’ websites infringe at least claim 1 of the ‘549 patent through their use of cryptographic protocols (e.g. RSA, Diffie-Hellman, and HMAC) during the login process.

Venus Locations LLC has filed four new lawsuits in its sole litigation campaign, asserting a single patent (6,442,485) generally related to translating GPS location data into map data against Actsoft (2:16-cv-00983), InTouch GPS (2:16-cv-00984), Omnitracs (2:16-cv-00985), and Teletrac (2:16-cv-00986). As in Venus’s first round of litigation, which targeted various companies including AT&T, LYFT, Microsoft, SOFTBANK (Sprint), T-Mobile, Trimble Navigation, and Verizon, the NPE’s latest complaints accuse the defendants of infringement through the provision of GPS, navigation, and fleet tracking services. In April 2016, Venus Locations took this campaign over from NovelPoint Tracking LLC, an NPE formed in Texas in January 2012 by Gautham (Gau) Bodepudi, Sanjay Pant, and Lillian Woung, the principals of patent monetization firm IP Edge LLC.

Avaya (2:16-cv-00945), Grandstream Networks (2:16-cv-00946), Polycom (2:16-cv-00948), and Snom (2:16-cv-00949) are the latest companies to be sued in Cypaleo LLC’s sole litigation campaign. The NPE asserts a single, former Xerox patent (5,638,427) generally related to a networked device for monitoring a machine, the device having multiple communication interfaces. These new complaints bring the number of defendants in the campaign over 25; while past infringement allegations focused on smartphones, tablets, and gaming laptops, Bluetooth-enabled phones with USB ports (e.g. Avaya’s 1140E IP Desk Phone, Grandstream’s GXV3275, Polycom’s VVX600, and Snom’s 760 Desk Telephone) are now at issue.

Texas NPE Dynavair LLC has launched litigation for the first time, asserting a single patent (6,271,645) against a dozen defendants, including AMS, Atmel, Cobham Advanced Electronic Solutions, Eaton, Intersil, Linear Technology, Microchip Technology, NXP Semiconductors (Freescale), OKW Electronics, Samsung, SII Semiconductor, and TI. The ‘645 patent generally relates to balancing energy levels between batteries within a pack. The complaints target the defendants’ cell balancing circuit products, particularly (although not exclusively) for implementation among multiple Li-ion batteries.

Over the past two months, four NPEs with apparent connections to patent monetization firm IP Edge LLC have collectively filed nearly 50 patent infringement suits against operating companies. This report provides an overview of each of those four NPEs’ campaigns, which canvass a broad spectrum of defendants in multiple market sectors. Active defendants in these campaigns range from networking companies (Allied Telesis, Sophos) to retailers (1-800-Flowers, Staples), from electronics companies (Hisense, TCL) to wireless carriers (AT&T, T-Mobile).

In mid-2015, the first of eight new NPEs began asserting former Xerox patents in litigation against operating companies. These NPEs collectively filed over 260 patent infringement cases between May and July 2015 alone, all asserting patents received from Xerox earlier this year.

June was a big month for new NPE Oberalis LLC. The entity launched its first litigation campaign  with 25 suits at the beginning of the month and 25 more two weeks later. The campaign targets retailers, and recently named defendants include Brooks Brothers, Crocs, Edible Arrangements, Oakley, Sony, Target, and Williams-Sonoma. The campaign asserts a single patent related to browsing and managing electronic documents (5,911,140). Defendants’ websites, which include e-commerce functions, are accused of infringing the patent-in-suit.