Brightplus Ventures LLC, a plaintiff associated with Texas monetization firm IPValuation Partners, LLC (d/b/a IPVal), has launched litigation over the portfolio of LED and LCD backlighting patents received from IDEAL Industries Lighting, a subsidiary of IDEAL Industries this past March. LG Electronics (LGE) ( 2:22-cv-00170) was sued in late May, with TCL ( 2:22-cv-00194) added as a defendant afterward, both in the Eastern District of Texas. The cases follow the end of IDEAL's own litigation, mid-appeal from a mixed decision from the International Trade Commission.
Original development work for the transacted patents, including those now asserted in litigation (7,690,812; 7,872,705; 8,177,382; 8,294,075; 8,330,710; 8,941,331; 9,605,835; RE42,598; RE45,796), was conducted at Cree. All eight patents are in suit against both LGE and TCL. In October 2021, Cree announced a name change, to Wolfspeed, after completing a "massive four-year transformation, involving the divestiture of two-thirds of the business and a repositioning of the company's overall core strategy" to focus on its silicon carbide materials, elevating its semiconductor devices "business unit" to its central operation. One such divestiture was of its Cree Lighting business to IDEAL Industries.
Brightplus acquired its portfolio of 34 issued US patents from IDEAL Industries on March 23, 2022, roughly one month before IDEAL's own litigation, via parallel complaints filed against RAB Lighting before the ITC and the Southern District of New York, ended in settlement. (IDEAL's ITC action ended in a split violation decision, upheld upon agency review and resulting in exclusion orders that have now been rescinded in light of the parties' settlement. Per publicly available records, IDEAL's transfer to Brightplus appears to be its first to an NPE.)
Brightplus was formed in Texas on March 10, 2022, identifying as its managing member Adam Baumli, an IPVal principal. IPVal has initiated over 40 litigation campaigns across a wide range of technology areas over the last few years. Baumli cofounded it in August 2012, together with Jason Bourgeois and Jonathan Szarzynski; however, in August 2018, Szarzynski left the firm to form another Texas monetization firm, Endpoint IP LLC. IPVal has been somewhat less active, at least in terms of defendants added to litigation campaigns, since that departure.
To place the new Brightplus campaign in the context of IPVal's recent activities, including in existing litigation by sister NPE LedComm LLC, see "IPVal Acquires Another LED Lighting Portfolio" (April 2022). To place IPVal's combined litigation in the context of the growing number of patent disputes over LED lighting, start here and here.
In each new complaint, the plaintiff targets the provision of various LCD TVs, displays, monitors, and certain "products with lighting unit technology", targeting various features related to LED display panels and LED backlighting. Kheyfits Belenky, LLP filed the cases for Brightplus, with District Judge Rodney Gilstrap now presiding. 5/24, LGE, 6/7, TCL, Eastern District of Texas.
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