Patent Risk Digest

May 2018

A monthly update on market activity, legal developments, and policy related to patent litigation
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IP Edge Text Message Campaign Moves into Mobile Security

Anuwave LLC, an affiliate of IP Edge LLC, rebooted its litigation campaign in April with a new round of filings that now target makers of security applications that use “text security services”—a way to locate a mobile device by sending a text from another device. The new complaints hit more than half a dozen security app makers. Anuwave had previously sued nearly 50 banks.

Anuwave began this campaign in November 2015, adding two rounds of cases in 2016 and 2017. Each complaint in the campaign asserts a single patent related to allowing communications via text message.

Affiliated IP Edge entities have litigated at least 60 campaigns, including a dozen launched last year.

Anuwave itself was formed in Texas in June 2015. Its management has also held managing roles with at least four other Texas affiliates of IP Edge, each of which has launched litigation campaigns over the past several years.

With Revitalized Patent, Patent Troll Takes on In-Flight Entertainment

Ten years after Linksmart Wireless Techology, LLC began its only litigation campaign, the NPE took aim in April at two companies that make in-flight entertainment systems, as well as 10 airlines that use them.

In 2008, Linksmart filed a barrage of lawsuits in the Eastern District of Texas against companies that made, sold, or used technology involved in redirecting mobile device users to places like authentication pages. Defendants included those that made the related networking equipment, wireless providers, and hotels, restaurants, and others that provided "hotspot" Internet connections.

The last case ended in June 2013, at which point Linksmart took a hiatus from litigation, while it looked to have its patent reissued. The USPTO reissued Linksmart’s patent in June 2017.

In this new round of litigation, Linksmart does not entirely abandon its previous strategy. It has also sued a provider Internet access for hotels.

Realtime Data Expands Massive Video Streaming Campaign

In late April and early May, Realtime Data LLC (RTD) and its subsidiary Realtime Adaptive Streaming LLC (RAS) filed a barrage of new complaints in RTD’s long-running campaign. RTD asserted patents relating to data compression in new cases against three companies, while RAS filed complaints asserting video compression patents against another four. With these new filings, the number of defendants in this sprawling litigation campaign approaches 100, with the number of patents asserted holding steady at just shy of 40.

Most of the asserted patents have been developed and asserted by RTD and are related to data compression, with others relating to how operating systems and applications load when starting up a device. At issue in RTD's recent complaints are the defendants' cloud computing systems. RAS has asserted patents developed by RTD, as well as two developed elsewhere. Companies targeted throughout the campaign include those that offer video streaming services; cloud service providers; develop smart televisions, set-top boxes, and DVD players; and makers of smartphones and tablets.

RTD was formed in New York in May 1999, and also registered in Texas in May 2011.