Wireless earbuds are the focus of a new litigation campaign, filed by Helical LLC against ASUSTek (2:25-cv-00353), Creative Technology (2:25-cv-00354), Little Bird (2:25-cv-00355), Loyal Deluxe Development (Meizhou Guo Wei Electronics) (2:25-cv-00357), Marshall Group (2:25-cv-00356), OnePlus (2:25-cv-00360), Panasonic (2:25-cv-00361), Samsung (2:25-cv-00362), and Yamaha (2:25-cv-00363). A single patent generally related to an "audio content delivery device" with a "main in-the-ear body portion" is asserted in each complaint, all filed in the Eastern District of Texas.
USPTO assignment records have yet to reflect an assignment of the patent (9,445,183) away from its sole inventor, Linda D. Dahl, but the plaintiff pleads that it is the "assignee of all right, title and interest" in it. The '183 patent belongs to a family of four with issue dates ranging from March 2013 through July 2017 and an earliest estimated priority date in February 2008. Dahl appears to be an ear, nose and throat (ENT) doctor, as well as the founder of Better Breastfeeding, in New York, New York.
Helical was formed in New Mexico on September 26, 2024, with little to no information on its management or personnel publicly available. Its complaints have been filed by Rabicoff Law LLC, which has lately come to represent two bulk patent litigation filing operations: that of established figure Jeffrey M. Gross and that of an entrant, new in 2024, to this business, Eric Zautner. Rabicoff Law has begun to file so many new cases that it has occasionally made glaring errors—see, e.g., "Counsel for Multiple Bulk Filers Gets Wires Crossed" (February 2025). Whether Helical is definitively tied to Gross (more likely) or to Zautner, it is likely to conduct its litigation in file-and-settle fashion, as campaigns linked to either appear to unfold that way.
District Judge Rodney Gilstrap has been assigned to preside over this nine-pack of new suits. 4/8, ASUSTek, Creative Technology, Little Bird, Marshall Group, Meizhou Guo Wei Electronics, 4/9, OnePlus, Panasonic, Samsung, Yamaha, Eastern District of Texas.
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