|
An Update on Patent Litigation, the Patent Marketplace, and New Cases
|
Monday, June 15, 2026
|
Patent Litigation Feature
|
|
A Delaware jury has returned a verdict in favor of TVision Insights in the first of five cases filed against it by Nielsen. A single patent claim was tried, the jury finding that Nielsen did not prove infringement but nor did TVision prove invalidity. This case is the second among five filed by Nielsen against TVision, two of which have been dismissed with prejudice. The other two are still open before District Judge Richard G. Andrews and Magistrate Judge Christopher J. Burke in Delaware; however, one of them is stayed to await Nielsen’s appeal from the results of an inter partes review (IPR) of the asserted patent.
Read More >>
|
Patent Watch
|
|
Texas entity LinkConnect Innovations LLC has announced, through IAM, that it has launched a “new licensing program” with “more than 1,000 assets sourced from Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent”. The patents are among those held by LinkConnect’s parent, WSOU Investments, LLC (d/b/a Brazos Licensing and Development), an entity controlled at least in part by Uniloc Corporation Pty. Limited’s Craig Etchegoyen. IAM provides rough stats that suggest that Brazos has filed 208 district court cases, of which “patent challengers won 17 cases (9%)”, but those numbers appear skewed by several issues, particularly the Brazos early litigation approach.
Read More (RPX Members Only) >>
|
|
The financial advisor facilitating the 2024 transfer of a large portfolio of patents from Avaya to Texas monetization firm Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC suggested at the time of the divestiture was announced that “[t]he VoIP portfolio sold to Dominion Harbor is only the first of multiple portfolios that Avaya intends to put on the secondary patent market”. Two additional divestitures have now appeared in publicly available USPTO records, to a pair of linked recipients.
Read More >>
|
|
Back in 2019, Huawei assigned 75 US patents to Texas monetization firm IP Edge LLC, which doled out portions of the portfolio for monetization. Three associated plaintiffs launched litigation over the subdivided assets, the last campaign of which ended in February 2023, about six months after Delaware Chief Judge Colm F. Connolly began scrutinizing IP Edge’s activities. Now, the transfer of some of those former Huawei assets has appeared in publicly available USPTO assignment records—suggesting more monetization to come.
Read More (RPX Members Only) >>
|
|
Last week, RPX noted Empire IP LLC’s acquisition of a portfolio of patent assets from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV), furthering an emerging “every other year” pattern. This week, the assignment of another portfolio to the monetization firm has appeared in publicly available USPTO assignment records. It includes four previously litigated patents broadly directed to multi-user “virtual environments”—one of which was tried to a jury.
Read More (RPX Members Only) >>
|
|
This past week saw two divestitures from Avaya, and one from each of IP Edge LLC and Fortress Investment Group LLC. One of the most prolific patent filers of 2022 also announced a new incarnation for its large portfolio of former Nokia assets. Among assignment records that the USPTO recently made public are several other noteworthy transfers.
Read More >>
|
New Patent Litigation
|
|
Acoustic Array Technologies LLC (AAT) has filed a Western District of Texas complaint accusing Apple (7:26-cv-00231) of infringing a single expired patent generally related to “an acoustic combination that can be utilized as a dynamic pressure sensor and a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)-based array that utilizes the acoustic combination”. The inventor-led plaintiff pleads that the patent is coowned by NASA but that the US government, “through the Department of Commerce, has confirmed that NASA and the USPTO have no objection to the non-federal inventors’ . . . bringing legal action on their behalf or on behalf of their assignee, AAT, without the Federal Government’s participation in the lawsuit”. The accused products include certain later generation iPhones, iPads, and HomePods.
Read More >>
|
|
So far in June, Portus Singapore Pte Ltd. and its Australian subsidiary Portus Pty Limited have filed separate patent cases against Carrier Global (4:26-cv-04444), Crestron Electronics (3:26-cv-01831), Lenovo (Motorola Mobility) (4:26-cv-00676, 4:26-cv-00690), Leviton Manufacturing (1:26-cv-03370), Lutron Electronics (1:26-cv-12577), Mitsubishi Electric (1:26-cv-12576), Panasonic (3:26-cv-01829), Resideo Technologies (Control4) (2:26-cv-03987), Savant Systems (1:26-cv-04691), Somfy Systems (9:26-cv-80658), and The Chamberlain Group (4:26-cv-00296). 2026 cases are already on the books against Amazon, Daikin Industries (Daikin Comfort Technologies North America), Haier Group (Haier US Appliance Solutions), HF Holdings (iFIT), Lennox, LG Electronics (LGE), Peloton Interactive, Resideo Technologies (ADI Global Distribution), Robert Bosch (BSH Home Appliances), Samsung, Tonal Systems, Trane, and Whirlpool. Throughout, Portus targets the provision of smart devices (e.g., exercise equipment, refrigerators, TVs, etc.) that support features for remotely controlling and/or monitoring devices in “user premises networks”.
Read More >>
|
|
Near Field Electronics LLC has filed separate Eastern District of Texas complaints against AT&T (AT&T Mobility) (4:26-cv-00637), Dollar Tree Stores (4:26-cv-00636), Flower Child (4:26-cv-00638), Home Depot (4:26-cv-00639), Lowe’s (4:26-cv-00640), Macy’s (4:26-cv-00641), Michaels (4:26-cv-00642), and Shake Shack (4:26-cv-00643). The Equitable IP Corporation plaintiff continues to target the use of the NXP PN512 NFC Front-End, or similar NFC front-end components “to process contactless credit card payment transactions at a point of sale”. Near Field has contested jurisdiction in separate declaratory judgment actions filed by POS terminal providers Poseiden Holdco (Ingenico), in the Eastern District of Texas, and Verifone, in the District of Delaware.
Read More >>
|
|
Estech Systems IP LLC, a subsidiary of Estech Systems, Inc., has sued Samsung (2:26-cv-00457) over the provision of a variety of smartphones and tablets with “Wi-Fi and cellular communication capability”—specifically, certain “Samsung Galaxy smartphones and cellular-enabled Samsung Galaxy Tab tablets, including LTE and/or 5G variants”. At issue are features related to switching between mobile data and Wi-Fi networks, automatically toggling Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi calling, and related functionality. This litigation marks the start of a new campaign for Estech, which has sued nearly 60 defendants since 2020 in its first one.
Read More >>
|
|
In late May, Western District of Texas Magistrate Judge Susan Hightower recommended that a Meta Platforms motion to dismiss an April 2024 case filed by Mullen Industries LLC be granted and final judgment be entered for the defendant. The inventor-controlled plaintiff had disclaimed, last October, all of its asserted claims before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), which entered adverse judgment against Mullen Industries. Meta has filed one “narrow objection” to the magistrate recommendation—and Mullen Industries has filed a new suit in the same district, accusing Meta (7:26-cv-00223) of infringing different claims from ten of the 12 patents from the first case.
Read More >>
|
|
NeoLayer LLC has filed separate Eastern District of Texas complaints against BOE Technology (2:26-cv-00459) and Samsung (2:26-cv-00458). It is the plaintiff’s first against BOE, its second against Samsung. Late last year, NeoLayer sued ASUSTek and Samsung in separate suits in the same district. Asserted across the four cases are former AUO patents, described as “provid[ing] many improvements to OLED [and LCD] displays”.
Read More >>
|
|
Omni MedSci, Inc. has filed a fourth original complaint against Apple (7:26-cv-00226), this one in the Western District of Texas. Asserted are seven patents from the same large family already in suit, with infringement allegations targeting the provision of devices (i.e., smartwatches, earbuds, smartphones, and tablets) “configured to measure physiological parameters and/or perform optical measurement”. Accused features include blood oxygen measurement, Face ID, heart rate sensors, hypertension notification, double finger tapping, and more. The new case comes as Eastern District of Texas Magistrate Judge Roy S. Payne has granted a motion to sever that reconfigures a single December 2024 suit there into four separate ones, against Fossil Group, OnePlus, Oura Health, and Samsung.
Read More >>
|
|
Lemko Corporation has filed a second Northern District of Texas complaint against Microsoft (3:22-cv-00363), targeting the provision of the Azure MEC, Azure Operator Edge, Azure Operator Nexus, and Azure Programmable Connectivity (APC) services, which are allegedly “used to provide mobile network control and management functions, including on decentralized and virtualized networks, and are used to operate MEC or private telecommunications networks for data transmission and voice calls that can interoperate with outside networks, such as the Internet and common-carrier cellular networks”. The parties have jointly moved to consolidate this second action, accusing additional products, with the February 2022 case before District Judge Ed Kinkeade.
Read More (RPX Members Only) >>
|
In Case You Missed It
|
|
In April 2026, Delaware Chief Judge Colm F. Connolly adopted a new standing order requiring any lawyer applying for pro hac vice admission to sign a certification outlining the applicant’s professional relationship (and his or her firm’s business relationship) with nonlawyers, including a certification that the applicant does not and will not “share legal fees with a nonlawyer”. Judge Connolly has since enforced this standing order.
Read More >>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
