Last summer, the assignment of thousands of patent assets from BlackBerry to Malikie Innovations Limited, a subsidiary of Irish patent monetization firm Key Patent Innovations Limited (KPI), reflected the May 2023 completion of the deal between the two, described as involving the sale of "substantially all of [BlackBerry's] non-core patents and patent applications". Now, Malikie has filed suit, accusing Acer ( 2:24-cv-00179) and ASUSTek ( 2:24-cv-00178) in separate Eastern District of Texas complaints of infringing overlapping subsets of its received assets through the provision of features such as video coding, gesture-based touch controls, and power management within various devices, including Chromebooks, docks, laptops, and tablets.
Only ASUSTek is accused of infringing the 7,956,581 patent, which is generally related to a "rechargeable battery pack". Targeted is the provision of rechargeable battery packs and related electronic devices, including the ASUS Vivobook 14 M413DA, which incorporates components such as a battery pack manufactured by Celxpert (Kunshan) Energy and a battery pack manager from Texas Instruments.
Acer and ASUSTek are both accused of infringing the 8,334,847 patent, which is generally related to an "interface application" to control a touchscreen display, through the provision of devices, including the Acer Chromebook Spin 514 and the ASUS Chromebook Flip CXS, respectively, that support gesture-based touch controls.
Generally related to a "battery charger for a portable wireless communications device", the 8,610,397 patent is only asserted against Acer, which is accused of infringement through the provision of devices that include a battery charger, including the Acer Chromebook Plus 515 (which includes the Acer USB Type-C Dock D501).
The 9,179,147 patent, broadly directed to video coding, appears in both complaints, with the defendants accused of infringement through the provision of devices that support certain video coding functionalities, including the Predator Helios Neo 16 laptop and the ASUS Vivobook Pro 16X OLED Laptop with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 GPU, respectively.
Finally, both defendants are accused of infringing the 9,292,066 patent, which is generally related to an "upstream device to configure a plurality of lines in a cable". The patent is aimed at the provision of devices that are capable of supplying and/or receiving through devices that support the USB-C standard, including the Acer USB Type-C Dock D501 and related Acer Chromebook Plus 515 and Acer Iconia Tab M10 tablet, as well as the ASUS Dual 4K USB-C Dock and related ASUS Vivobook 13 Slate OLED and ASUS Chromebook C223.
KPI characterizes itself on its public website as "an Irish-based company that identifies and invests in high value patent-based opportunities", listing a team of directors headed by Angela Quinlan. She has been in the role of KPI managing director since July 2020, listing past positions with Dublin-based monetization firm Atlantic IP Services Limited ("Vice President of Licensing and Acquisitions" from September 2019 to July 2020); with one of Atlantic IP's portfolio of plaintiffs, Solas OLED Limited ("Vice President of Licensing and Associate General Counsel" from April 2019 to July 2020); and with patent advisory firm IPValue Management (d/b/a IPValue) subsidiary Longitude Licensing Limited (patent attorney from March 2014 through April 2019).
KPI's other directors include Paul Riley and Paul Seaman, as well as Glen Gibbons (otherwise a barrister practicing IP litigation in Ireland) and Mairead Lyons (otherwise Chief Legal Officer with financial services firm Cafico International). Riley and Seaman are also IPValue veterans. In 2018, they split off with fellow IPValue alumna Kalpana ("Kapu") Kumar to form JASPAR – IP Consultants and Patent Platform Services, around the same time that the three were named to replace the team originally heading assertion efforts of Delaware NPE Fundamental Innovation Systems International LLC (FISI), which efforts included litigating former BlackBerry patents against multiple defendants. FISI had initially engaged TnT IP LLC—a patent monetization firm managed by Craig Thompson and Ozer Teitelbaum, both former senior IP executives at Alcatel-Lucent—to license its portfolio. Now, Texas state records identify Kumar, Riley, and Seaman as FISI's governing persons, together with Eugene Davis of Livingston, New Jersey.
KPI advertises three portfolios, one held by each of Malikie (the former BlackBerry patents), Pictiva Displays International Limited (former OSRAM patents), and Valtrus Innovations Limited (former HP Enterprise (HPE) patents). Valtrus has been litigating its portfolio since early 2022, and this past fall, Pictiva began litigating, suing Samsung in the Eastern District of Texas suit. With these new suits, Malikie has joined its sister entities in becoming plaintiffs in US federal courts.
Without further explanation, Malikie alleges notice of infringement of at least some of the asserted patents to both Acer and ASUSTek in August 2016. Reichman Jorgensen Lehman & Feldberg LLP, as well as Ward, Smith & Hill, PLLC, provide representation. The cases have been assigned to Chief Judge Rodney Gilstrap. 3/15, Eastern District of Texas.
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