During March 2017, RPX completed 14 deals on behalf of its patent risk management network, obtaining rights to the patents involved either to end litigation against its members or to prevent it in the first place. March acquisitions occurred within the following market sectors: Automotive, Consumer Electronics and PCs, Media Content and Distribution, Mobile Communications and Devices, Networking, and Semiconductors.

Inventor-controlled 511 Innovations, Inc. has expanded its optical measurement campaign, filing suit against Lenovo (Motorola Mobility) (2:16-cv-01198), LG Electronics (LGE) (2:16-cv-01197), Pantech (2:16-cv-01199), and Sony (2:16-cv-01200). The new complaints assert five (6,307,629; 7,110,096; 7,397,541; 8,472,012; 8,786,844) from among the eight (6,490,038; 6,915,955; 7,113,283) patents-in-campaign, which all belong to a 67-member family. As with the NPE’s complaint against Apple, filed this past August, the accused products are various mobile phones. This expansion follows a burst of activity in the campaign, with the Texas district court issuing a claim construction order and Samsung filing eight petitions for inter partes review (IPR), one each challenging a patent-in-suit before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB).

RPX reported two weeks ago that inventor Alan Loudermilk had joined Caddo Systems, Inc. as a director, in possible preparation to assert the patents of Armin Moehrle. Loudermilk is also one of two named directors for 511 Innovations, Inc., an entity actively engaged in the enforcement of Loudermilk patents, most recently against Apple. Indeed, Caddo Systems and 511 Technologies, Inc.—another entity controlled by Loudermilk—have now teamed up to assert five of those Moehrle patents (7,191,411; 7,216,301; 7,640,517; 7,725,836; 8,352,880), suing Delta Airlines (2:16-cv-00925), Internet Brands(2:16-cv-00927), Southwest Airlines (2:16-cv-00926), and Tencent (Zam Network) (2:16-cv-00928) in the Eastern District of Texas. The defendants’ website navigation systems are accused of infringement.

511 Innovations, Inc., an inventor-controlled NPE, has added a case against Apple (2:16-cv-00868) to the campaign that it began last September by filing three complaints that named one or more mobile phone manufacturers with a semiconductor supplier: HTC with Vishay Intertechnology (2:15-cv-01524); Huawei, Samsung, and ZTE with AMS (2:15-cv-01526); and Microsoft with Avago (2:15-cv-01525). Of the eight optical measurement patents (6,307,629; 6,490,038; 6,915,955; 7,110,096; 7,113,283; 7,397,541; 8,472,012; 8,786,844) that 511 has asserted in the campaign, Apple is accused of infringing five (the ‘629, ‘096, ‘541, ‘012, and ‘844 patents) through the manufacture and sale of mobile phones, with only the iPhone 4 identified specifically.

Inventor-controlled 511 Innovations, Inc. kicked off its first litigation campaign with three suits against a group of device makers and semiconductor companies. Each of the complaints asserts a different combination of a group of eight patents, all of which generally concern optical measurement (6,307,629; 6,490,038; 6,915,955; 7,110,096; 7,113,283; 7,397,541; 8,472,012; 8,786,844). The defendants are grouped as follows: HTC with Vishay Intertechnology (2:15-cv-01524), Huawei, Samsung, and ZTE with AMS (2:15-cv-01526), and Microsoft with Avago (2:15-cv-01525). 511 accuses the device makers’ mobile phones, and the semiconductor defendants’ light sensors incorporated in those phones, of infringement.