Wireless Alliance, LLC, an Intellectual Discovery Co., Ltd. plaintiff, has filed its first litigation, suing AT&T (AT&T Mobility) (2:23-cv-00095), Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile) (2:23-cv-00096), and Verizon (Verizon Wireless) (2:23-cv-00097) over the provision of their respective 4G and/or 5G cellular networking services. Three wireless communications patents are asserted in the Eastern District of Texas complaints. Wireless Alliance pleads that it owns one of those patents and is the exclusive licensee with respect to the other two, which it indicates are owned by the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI).

RPX ended its 2020 Patent Watch coverage with articles featuring the role that operating company patents play in fueling NPE litigation, the run of third-party litigation finance into the patent space, and the rise in the number of cases focused on companies doing business in the Automotive market sector. A review of assignments of US patents recently made public identifies multiple transactions falling into that first category—i.e., patent divestments by operating companies.