L2 Mobile Technologies LLC, an entity under the control of NPE Longhorn IP LLC, has filed a second lawsuit in its sole litigation campaign, accusing Ford (1:21-cv-01409) of infringement through the provision of automobiles and devices that are complaint with the 3G and/or 4G wireless communication standards. The five patents-in-suit, two of which are new to litigation, are broadly directed to wireless communications; in its complaint, L2 Mobile alleges that ASUSTek and/or Innovative Sonic Limited "declared before [the European Telecommunications Standards Institute] ETSI the Patents in Suit as essential to the 3G wireless communications standard".
The asserted patents (7,266,105; 8,064,460; 8,054,777; 8,179,913; RE47,200), with the '105 and '460 patents appearing in litigation for the first time, belong to various families and issued between September 2007 and January 2019 with an earliest estimated priority in August 2001. L2 Mobile acquired the patents in a portfolio of 19 from Innovative Sonic—which picked up the patents from ASUSTek—in January 2017. The patents appear to belong to a portfolio described on Longhorn IP's website as originating with a "world renowned consumer electronics company" and comprising over 150 assets related to "3G and 4G/LTE cellular technologies".
L2 Mobile Technologies was formed in Texas on December 7, 2016. Christian ("Chris") Dubuc and Khaled Fekih-Romdhane, both past executives of Acacia Research Corporation, formed Longhorn IP itself in 2016 in Texas. (Dubuc has since left the firm and formed Harfang IP Investment Corp, which in April filed its inaugural patent infringement suit.) The firm identifies its "portfolios" via the Texas entities that hold them: Carthage Silicon Innovations LLC (holding patents issuing to either SK hynix or Magnachip); HANNIBAL IP LLC (holding patents issuing to FG Innovation Company Ltd. (f/k/a FG IP Innovation Company Ltd.)); L2 Mobile (holding the former ASUSTek patents received from Innovative Sonic); Katana Silicon Technologies LLC (holding and litigating former Samsung, Sharp, and Toshiba portfolios); Lone Star Silicon Innovations LLC (holding and litigating multiple patents received from AMD); Nordic Interactive Technologies LLC (having received from Intellectual Ventures LLC over 20 US patents originally developed by Firepad, Voicecraft, or Nokia); Nyckel UI Technologies LLC (holding five patents from a pair of individual inventors); Ox Mobile Technologies LLC (holding several patents received from ZTE); and Trenchant Blade Technologies, LLC (holding and now litigating former TSMC assets).
L2 Mobile launched this litigation campaign in April 2021 with a suit against Google in the Western District of Texas, accusing the defendant of infringing the '460, '777, and '200 patents through the provision of smartphones "that comply with the 3G and/or with both the 3G and 4G wireless communications standards". In July, Google filed an answer to L2 Mobile's complaint, pleading multiple counterclaims requesting declaratory judgments of the plaintiff's alleged obligation to license standard essential patents on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms; the plaintiff's breach of its obligation to negotiate in good faith; invalidity of the patents-in-suit; and noninfringement of the patents-in-suit. In response to a motion filed by L2 Mobile to dismiss Google's counterclaims of noninfringement, Google has since amended its counterclaims, via a late-August filing.
The new case against Ford has been initially assigned to District Judge Colm F. Connolly. 10/1, District of Delaware.
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