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A First 2024 Look at Notable Patent Assignments
Patent Market, Patent Watch
Recently recorded patent assignments made public by the USPTO contain noteworthy transfers to multiple plaintiffs now in litigation, including a new source of patents for Apex Beam Technologies LLC, a new source of patents for Pantech Corporation, and a familiar source of patent rights for Crystal Leap Zrt, this time assigning patents directly, though. Movement can also be seen from troubled patent monetization firm IP Edge LLC, as well as movement from various sources to patent broker Allied Security Trust. Take a look.
February 4, 2024
InterDigital Opens Up Second US Front Against Lenovo
New Patent Litigation
An Eastern District of North Carolina complaint from InterDigital, Inc. against Lenovo (Motorola Mobility) (5:23-cv-00493) was filed in tandem with a complaint filed before the International Trade Commission (ITC) (337-TA-3692) over the same five patents. Via both actions, InterDigital targets the provision of smartphones, computers (desktops and laptops), and tablets that allegedly support wireless file sharing and/or the AOMedia Video 1 (AV1) and VP9 video codecs. InterDigital pleads a domestic industry (either established or in process) through the US activities of licensees Apple and VIZIO.
September 7, 2023
InterDigital Opens Up Second US Front Against Lenovo
New Patent Litigation
Last month, Eastern District of Pennsylvania Judge Joshua D. Wolson, sitting in Delaware by designation, granted Lenovo’s request to stay a patent case that InterDigital, Inc. filed against it back in 2019 and that had been headed to an early December 2023 trial. The court did so to await an appeal of a March 2023 judgment from the London High Court of Justice in InterDigital v. Lenovo, that decision imposing a $138.7M global fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory (FRAND) license against defendant Lenovo after finding that neither party’s offers had been FRAND in their dispute over patents declared essential to various 3G, 4G, and 5G cellular standards. Now, InterDigital (together with various subsidiaries) has accused Lenovo (Motorola Mobility) (5:23-cv-00493) in a new Eastern District of North Carolina complaint of infringing five patents through the provision of smartphones, computers, and tablets that allegedly support wireless file sharing and/or the AOMedia Video 1 (AV1) and VP9 video codecs.
September 3, 2023
London High Court Issues UK’s Second-Ever FRAND Determination
Top Insight
On March 16, the London High Court of Justice released its long-awaited judgment in InterDigital v. Lenovo, imposing a $138.7M global fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory (FRAND) license against defendant Lenovo after finding that neither party’s offers had been FRAND. The rate was closer to what Lenovo had sought (totaling $80M) than US-based InterDigital, Inc.’s proposal ($337M). Notably, the court also found that Lenovo had behaved as a willing licensee during licensing negotiations, but that InterDigital had not acted as a willing licensor due having consistently offered supra-FRAND rates. The court also rejected InterDigital’s proposed rate-setting methodology. This sweeping, 225-page decision marks the second time that a UK court has issued a FRAND determination in a standard essential patent (SEP) dispute.
March 20, 2023
u-blox Takes Interdigital Back to Court
New Patent Litigation
u-blox (3:23-cv-00002) has filed suit against InterDigital, Inc. again, after the apparent expiration of a license that ended the parties’ 2019 litigation. In its new, partially redacted complaint, u-blox represents that it remains willing to enter into a license under fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory (FRAND) terms, “adjusting for patent expiration dates”, but that InterDigital now refuses to negotiate such a license to its standard essential patents (SEPs) in good faith. The case has again been filed in the Southern District of California.
January 8, 2023
InterDigital Releases Financials for Its “Strongest Quarter” in Years
Patent Market, Patent Watch
InterDigital, Inc. (IDCC) released its third quarter earnings on November 4, reporting a 64% increase in revenue compared to Q3 2020 and a string of new licensing agreements, including with a global TV manufacturer. In an earnings call with investors, CFO Rich Brezski touted Q3 2021 as IDCC’s “strongest quarter in almost four years”.
November 5, 2021
InterDigital, Quarterhill Release Q2 2021 Financials
Patent Market, Patent Watch
In early August, InterDigital, Inc. and Quarterhill Inc. released second quarter financial results providing glimpses into each company’s Q2 licensing activities as well as updates on their respective litigation campaigns.
August 13, 2021
Lenovo Charges InterDigital with Anticompetitive Behavior in New Delaware Case
Patent Litigation Feature
Lenovo (Motorola Mobility) has opened up another front in the set of disputes with InterDigital, Inc. (IDCC), pleading restraint of trade and monopolization claims under both Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act, as well as of breach of contract, in a new District of Delaware complaint (1:20-cv-00493). Last August, IDCC sued Lenovo in the United Kingdom, alleging infringement of four UK patents, each of which the plaintiff characterizes as essential to either 3G or 4G standards; one day later, IDCC sued Lenovo in the District of Delaware, alleging infringement by cellular-enabled Motorola and Lenovo devices practicing certain standards (e.g., HSUPA, LTE, and WCDMA) of eight US wireless communications patents. In the US case, Lenovo has challenged six of the patents in an Alice motion that remains pending before District Judge Leonard P. Stark.
April 14, 2020
InterDigital Faces Alice Challenges, Publishes Royalty Rates
Patent Litigation Feature
This month, Lenovo (Motorola Mobility) renewed an Alice motion attacking six of the eight wireless communications patents that InterDigital, Inc. (IDCC), through a group of subsidiaries, has asserted in its sole active US case. The defendants’ accused products are cellular-enabled Motorola and Lenovo devices practicing certain standards (e.g., HSUPA, LTE, and WCDMA). The abstract ideas to which the current motion alleges IDCC’s claims are patent-ineligibly directed range from “requesting additional bandwidth when the previously allocated bandwidth is insufficient” to “transmitting channel quality measurements in a rotating pattern of time intervals”. The challenge comes as InterDigital has published information detailing its “handset rate structure, portfolio data, [and] licensing principles” as part of a “new phase of transparency”.
January 25, 2020
InterDigital Touts Deal with ZTE as Important Expansion into China
Patent Market, Patent Watch
InterDigital, Inc.’s (IDCC’s) third quarter earnings call on October 31 provided an update on the company’s efforts to gain a greater foothold in China—for which its recent deal with ZTE bodes well, according to CEO William Merritt (who added that the deal with ZTE, which will reportedly resolve all pending legal proceedings between the two companies, “also sets a solid foreign benchmark for current and future litigations”). IDCC’s executives also lauded the company’s entry into a license agreement with Google, inked through “a patent licensing platform that involved a number of licensors”.
November 2, 2019