Conti Temic Microelectronic and its subsidiary ADC Automotive Distance Control Systems, both Continental AG companies (1:21-cv-00826), have asked the Eastern District of Virginia for declaratory judgments of noninfringement and invalidity of a single patent, generally related to a "voltage-controlled oscillator" and held by NPE Arigna Technology Limited. Arigna sued a fleet of automakers, first in the Eastern District of Texas and then before the International Trade Commission (ITC), over that same patent, alleging infringement through the incorporation of certain radar sensor modules (involving NXP Semiconductors MR2001 oscillators). The Continental subsidiaries plead that among those automakers are customers that have sought its indemnification and defense.
Arigna has launched three litigation campaigns; this declaratory judgment action falls into the first, filed this past February. The NPE filed an original complaint in the Eastern District of Texas asserting a single patent acquired from Mitsubishi Electric (7,397,318) against automakers BMW, Daimler (Mercedes-Benz), Renault (Nissan), Tesla, Toyota, and Volkswagen. The plaintiff amended its complaint in March 2021 to assert a second former Mitsubishi asset (the 8,247,867 patent, broadly directed to a particular semiconductor device) and to add GM as a defendant.
All of the defendants are accused of infringing the '318 patent, while only BMW, GM, and Volkswagen are accused of infringing the '867 patent, with Arigna pleading that joinder in a single complaint is warranted because "each Defendant designs, manufactures, assembles, imports, offers for sale, and/or sells automotive vehicles and components thereof that incorporate the NXP Semiconductors MR2001 chip package".
On the same day of its amended complaint in East Texas, Arigna filed its ITC complaint, accusing proposed respondents BMW, Daimler (Mercedes-Benz), GM, and Volkswagen (Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini, Porsche) of infringement of the '867 patent, as well as of a second patent (8,289,082), originally developed at Atmel, which Microchip Technology acquired in 2016. Arigna bases its claim to a domestic industry on the US activities of Microchip, into which it has entered a license agreement, Arigna framing the relationship between the two as a "partnership . . . intended to protect and increase American-made goods and American jobs, including jobs at Microchip's Arizona and Colorado facilities. Although Microchip is a third party, its interest in this case is sincere. Under the terms of Microchip's confidential license agreement with Arigna, Microchip has agreed to provide Arigna any "requested technical or economic information pertaining to Microchip's products in a reasonable and timely manner for at least two years from the agreement's effective date of June 26, 2020".
The ITC action has moved into discovery, while the East Texas case, before District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, has seen a storm of Rule 12 motions, contesting venue, service, and sufficiency of Arigna's pleading of direct, indirect, and willful infringement, among other things.
This campaign is only the first of three that Arigna has filed-in May it filed two more, also hitting automakers. For a rundown of those campaigns, see "Arigna Technology Takes Aim at More Automakers" (May 2021).
Arigna is part of a growing web of affiliated Irish NPEs that have been acquiring and asserting patents from major operating companies under the banner of Atlantic IP Services Limited, a Dublin-based patent monetization firm. Atlantic IP describes itself on its website as "specialized and focused on patent monetization, from patent review, selection, drafting, valuation and acquisition financing, to all phases of licensing from market studies, teardowns, negotiations and, when necessary, litigation". The firm also touts its backing by Magnetar Capital, a hedge fund with $14B in assets under management as of March 31, 2021, stating on its website that Magnetar has "co-invested in a number of Atlantic IP Services' intellectual property portfolios". According to that same website, portfolios under Atlantic IP's management include several already in litigation by the aforementioned web of Irish plaintiffs. To explore those connections, see "Kingston and Western Digital Caught in Web of Irish NPE Litigation" (June 2021).
The new declaratory judgment action against Arigna has been initially assigned to District Judge Anthony J. Trenga. 7/14, Eastern District of Virginia.
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