Patent Filings Roundup: Trio of Actions Accuse IP Investments of Coordinated Campaign with Intellectual Ventures Backend; Judge Albright Cancels One of 141 WSOU-Asserted Patents; New Magnetar Entity Surfaces

A light Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) and busy district court week for patent filings marked the 10-year anniversary of the passage of the America Invents Act, with 18 petitions (two post grant reviews [PGRs] and 16 inter partes reviews [IPRs]) and 78 district court complaints filed. A handful of those IPRs are semiconductor cases carried over from previous fights already reported here;

The Intellectual Ventures Three-Step: In a fascinating trio of declaratory judgment actions against three non-practicing entity (NPE) subsidiaries— CommWorks Solutions, LLC, DataCloud Techs., LLC, and DigiMedia Tech, LLC— cable provider Altice USA shot back at a series of IP Investments-controlled portfolios that have sued or threatened them via parent company Brainbox Innovations, LLC, and in a detailed filing, revealed some fascinating backstory about the licensing campaign and structure of that entity. In those filings, Altice alleges that, based on attached public documents, that Intellectual Ventures (the transferor of the portfolios) retains a security interest and a backend on any licensing revenue obtained, in line with an explanation of the general structure of IV selloffs from 2019 and 2020 outlined in previous posts here. The complaint alleges that four of the portfolio assertions (including CDN Innovations LLC) are part of “a broader, coordinated patent assertion campaign driven by Brainbox and Executed through Defendant and its sister LLCs,” including those listed here. See Altice USA, Inc. et al v. CommWorks Solutions, LLC, 1:21-cv-01323-UNA (D.Del. Sept. 17, 2021); Altice USA, Inc. et al v. DataCloud Techs., LLC, 1:21-cv-01321-UNA (D.Del. Sept. 17, 2021); Altice USA, Inc. et al v. DigiMedia Tech, LLC, 1:21-cv-01322-UNA (D.Del. Sept. 17, 2021).

Brazos Tells it to the Judge (Albright): In one of 13 assertions against Google LLC by frequent filer WSOU Investments (d/b/a Brazos Licensing & Development), Judge Albright, in claim construction, cancelled the asserted claims at the claim construction hearing under Section112, sixth paragraph, as indefinite. The patent is U.S. 8,238,681; the case, 6:20-cv-00582, is one of 13 (suits and patents) filed. Brazos (not to be confused with the fictional Steve Martin TV detective on the popular “Only Murders In the Building”), has filed 196 complaints in the past two years, primarily in the Western District of Texas’ Waco Division before Judge Albright; 60 of those complaints have been dismissed for various reasons to date, with another 136 pending on that already-crowded docket. At least 141 unique patents have been asserted before the courts there.

Aire Apparent: In yet another Magnetar Capital-funded, Atlantic IP-controlled large, financed patent portfolio assertion campaign, new filer Aire Technology (f/k/a Bowen Ventures Ltd) has filed against Samsung on another handset-relevant but generally unstandardized technology—here Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. Recall that Magnetar and Samsung settled a prior assertion campaign, and Samsung believed, according to later filings, it was buying peace with the Atlantic IP entities; it was later sued, and Samsung filed an action seeking to enforce the earlier agreement for “lasting peace”; this newest suit just reinforces that, at least for Magnetar’s part, they believe they can acquire and enforce portfolios against the tech giant ad infimum despite the earlier license arrangement. The newest suit is Aire Tech. Ltd. V. Samsung Elects. Co., Ltd et al, 6:21-cv-00955, and asserts four patents, 8205249, 8174360, 8816827, and 8581706, which come from a defunct German mobile security company, and follows high-stakes campaigns Scramoge Tech. Ltd., Arigna Tech. Ltd, SOLAS OLED Ltf., Data Scape Ltd., Sonrai Memory Ltd., and Neodron Ltd. Initiated by the group.

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