United States: Those Additional Georgia LLCs Holding Former IV Patents Go After Companies With Public Websites

In early February, RPX covered the recordation of the assignment of multiple patent portfolios from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV) to a set of recently formed NPEs with apparent ties to Atlanta-based patent monetization firm IPInvestments Group LLC (d/b/a IPinvestments Group). Two of those recipient Georgia LLCs have now filed suit: Advanced Transactions, LLC hitting Belk ( 6:22-cv-00176) over the provision of a wide variety of products and services, including its marketing email system, online banking system, mobile apps, gift and reward cards, e-commerce website, in-store and online shopping services, and payment processing services, as well as related hardware and software products; and Alto Dynamics, LLC hitting Redfin ( 2:22-cv-00064) over the provision of its website, targeting features related to data collection, user login, and search functionalities.

The patents that Advanced Transactions has asserted (7,065,555; 7,386,594; 7,693,950; 7,979,057; 8,150,736; 8,175,519; 9,747,608; 10,783,529) are broadly directed to various aspects of e-commerce technologies, the '555, '594, and '950 patents generally related to "conducting an email campaign"; the '057, '519, '608, and '529 patents, to "processing negotiable economic credits through a wireless hand held device"; and the '736 patent, to generating a web page with marketing information based on the user's identified geographic location. The set is of disparate origins, the new case against Belk apparently the first time each has been litigated.

The Alto Dynamics patents-in-suit generally relate to searching a database with certain "search criteria" (6,691,103); "converting relational data from a relational database into a structured document" (6,604,100); monitoring "user usage patterns of a system" (7,392,160); and authorizing access to "a resource of a processing system" (8,051,098; RE46,513). This campaign also appears to be the first for these patents.

The patents moved into the plaintiffs' respective hands as part of a larger set of IV divestitures dated on August 25, 2021, via multiple "launchpad entities" (i.e., Delaware entities with the "Intellectual Ventures Assets XX LLC" naming convention) to apparent IPinvestments Group entities Distributed Media Solutions, LLC (73 US assets, some of which were developed by Metadigm, Oracle (Front Porch Digital), Raytheon, or Universal Electronics; and ServStor Technologies, LLC (71 US assets, including patents originating with Crystal Group, eSignX, or Zetera), as well as to Advanced Transactions (31 US assets, including patents originating with Apex Interactive, AT&T (BellSouth), ICplanet, Quake!, or Rxdrugstore.com); and Alto Dynamics (33 US assets, some with development work performed at Avaya, American Express (ReachForce), AT&T, BIS Solutions, Ensim, iNetProfit, NICE Systems (Fortent), or PlanetWeb).

All four assignees were formed in Georgia on August 5, 2021 with Lucas Geren and Scott Wharton, partners at the Atlanta-based Hill, Kertscher & Wharton LLP law firm, identified as organizer and registered agent, respectively. As RPX previously reported, IPinvestments Group followed a similar pattern of formation for a group of NPEs that have since begun litigating: CDN Innovations, LLC; CommWorks Solutions, LLC; DataCloud Technologies, LLC; DigiMedia Tech, LLC; and Kioba Processing, LLC. Each of those entities was formed in Georgia on October 24, 2019, named Geren and Wharton as organizer and agent, and acquired patent assets from IV in late-2019. In 2020, a series of annual statements identified Ryan Strong, an executive at IPinvestments Group, as each entity's "Authorized Person".

In April 2017, IV announced a strategic shift, moving away from the purchase of additional patents and refocusing on the monetization of existing assets. The years since have seen a steady outflow of patents from IV, including in transfers to a number of particularly prominent NPEs—and in some cases, with IV retaining a financial interest in the assertion of its divestitures. The prior group of IPinvestments Group LLCs vaulted that firm to the top of the list of recipients of patent assets from IV, with several litigation campaigns arising from those divestitures.

More recently, RPX has observed (e.g., here) some of those patents subsequently changing hands, passing from one NPE to another, likely in preparation for the launch of new campaigns. Further, USPTO records reflect a number of recent patent transfers among various IV "launchpad" entities—typically a tell-tale sign that IV is moving assets into position for upcoming divestitures.

Both Advanced Transactions and Alto Dynamics disclose that no publicly held company owns ten percent or more of its stock, the former further identifying Pinnacle Innovations, LLC as its parent. (Alto Dynamics identifies no parent.) Pinnacle Innovations was also formed in Georgia on August 5, 2021 with Wharton as its agent. The Advanced Transactions case has been assigned to District Judge Alan D. Albright; the Alto Dynamics suit, to District Judge Rodney Gilstrap. 2/18, Advanced Transactions v. Belk, Western District of Texas; 2/25, Alto Dynamics v. Redfin, Eastern District of Texas.

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