The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) continued to see the filing of petitions for inter partes review (IPR) against publicly traded NPEs in March 2017, including Acacia Research Corporation; Finjan Holdings, Inc.; Pendrell Corporation; TiVo Corporation (formerly known as Rovi Corporation); and Wi-LAN Inc. (WiLAN). A variety of prolific, privately held NPEs were also targeted for IPR throughout March, including Blackbird Tech LLC, General Patent Corporation, IP Edge LLC, Realtime Data LLC, and Papst Licensing GmbH & Company Kg, along with several inventors and inventor-controlled NPEs and an assortment of other plaintiffs.

In the first half of February 2016, RPX saw eight patent transfers to known NPEs recorded with the USPTO. At least one transaction involved a patent already asserted in NPE litigation against operating companies.

Japanese businessman Ryujin Fujinomaki filed suit (2:15-cv-01381) against ASUS, Google, Huawei, LGE, Motorola Mobility, and Samsung, asserting a patent  (6,151,493) that originated with Miyaken Co., LTD. Between 2007 and 2015, the patent was transferred to six different owners. Fujinomaki received the asserted patent from ZZ License in May 2015. The patent-in-suit concerns user authentication for an electronic device in order to prohibit unauthorized use.