Last week, RPX raised the possibility of IP Edge LLC’s practices—specifically, the naming of Texas residents with seemingly no discernible connections to patent monetization as managers or managing members of most of its LLCs—sliding under the judicial microscope. On September 12, District of Delaware Chief Judge Colm F. Connolly ordered a handful of such individuals to appear, in person, at evidentiary hearings to determine whether a group of apparent IP Edge plaintiffs has complied with his standing order regarding the disclosure of any third-party litigation funding. A similar order has been issued in multiple cases associated with Dynamic IP Deals, LLC (d/b/a DynaIP), Judge Connolly setting an October hearing to determine the accuracy of those plaintiffs’ amended corporate disclosure statements. Perhaps unsurprisingly, voluntary dismissals have been noticed across these cases, ending the court’s jurisdiction over the matters.

Heritage IP LLC has filed another round of suits in what has shifted to a litigation campaign over a single former Cypress Semiconductor patent acquired from Monterey Research, LLC, a subsidiary of IPValue Management (d/b/a IPValue). The patent asserted in this latest batch of complaints—filed against Boston Scientific (1:21-cv-00935), Canon (2:21-cv-03705), Gimbal (1:21-cv-00936), Tanita (1:21-cv-03503), and VivaChek Laboratories (1:21-cv-00937)—generally relates to microcontrollers with “power on reset” (PoR) circuits. NXP Semiconductors jumped into this fray last July, after one of its customers had been sued, first filing a complaint seeking declaratory judgments followed by a quick motion for a judgment on the pleadings, challenging this asserted patent under Alice. Heritage IP, an apparent IP Edge LLC plaintiff, opposed the motion by locking horns on every issue.

In February of last year, IP Edge LLC acquired six US patents from Monterey Research, LLC, a portfolio that has since spawned four litigation campaigns. In November 2020, IP Edge, through controlled entity Spearhead IP LLC, picked up a second set of patents from the same source, this time comprising 17 US patents. Last week, the Texas monetization firm launched two campaigns—through Lazer IP LLC and Viewpoint IP LLC—from the 17-patent portfolio, with other new IP Edge campaigns suggesting that a relationship between the NPE and IPValue Management (d/b/a IPValue) (acquired by private equity firm Vector Capital in 2014), Monterey Research’s parent, may be developing.