Texas plaintiff Paneltouch Technologies LLC has filed suit against BOE Technology (2:25-cv-00245) in the Eastern District of Texas. Asserted are five patents received as part of a larger portfolio from Panasonic in March 2024, and targeted is the provision of "the BOE OLED panel supplied to Valve and included in the Steam Deck" (a handheld gaming device) as well as "the BOE display/touch panel supplied to Amazon and included in the Amazon Fire HD10 tablet". Meanwhile, BOE Technology—in the first of two suits filed against it by Texas plaintiff Optronic Sciences LLC—has challenged subject matter jurisdiction, arguing that restrictions placed on the rights granted to the plaintiff by AUO reduce Optronic Sciences from patentee to licensee.
As RPX has previously reported, Paneltouch Technologies was formed in Texas on July 11, 2023. In state records, Paneltouch Technologies identifies as its managing member Touch Display LLC, a Delaware entity formed one day earlier, on July 10, 2023. Texas state records also suggest that Paneltouch Technologies has secured funding; however, the identity of the funder has been obscured through the use of a corporate services company, which signed as that funder's representative. The management or personnel of Paneltouch Technologies does not appear in publicly available records.
Optronic Sciences was formed in Texas on May 17, 2023. It identified as its managing member Lumina Innovations LLC, a Delaware entity formed one day earlier (with the same agent used by Touch Display), on May 16, 2023. Texas state records also suggest that Optronic Sciences has secured funding, the identity of the funder obscured through the use of the same corporate services company. Signing as the organizer of Optronic Sciences in Texas state records is Nat Smith, apparently an employee of Northwest Registered Agent, LLC, the same individual who signed as the organizer for Paneltouch Technologies.
On March 22, 2024, Panasonic assigned more than 140 issued US patents to Paneltouch Technologies. The recipient has now sued BOE Technology over five of those received assets (8,704,762; 8,803,836; 9,250,758; 9,507,477; 11,126,025). The Eastern District of Texas complaint provides little detail as to either Paneltouch Technologies or Touch Display. Paneltouch Technologies is represented by Russ August & Kabat, frequent plaintiff-side counsel. The plaintiff has filed a disclosure statement in which it "certifies that there is no parent corporation and that no publicly held corporation owns 10 percent or more of the interest in Paneltouch Technologies". Per Texas state records, that certification appears incorrect.
Indeed, in connection with its first case against BOE Technology, filed by Russ August & Kabat in November 2023, Optronic Sciences filed a disclosure statement in which it certified "that there is no parent corporation and that no publicly held corporation owns 10 percent or more of the interest in Optronic Sciences LLC". It later corrected that disclosure to indicate that "Optronic Sciences is 100% owned by Lumina Innovations LLC". The Optronic Sciences complaint, filed in the Eastern District of Texas, provides little detail as to either Optronic Sciences or Lumina Innovations. Optronic Sciences filed its second complaint against BOE in July 2024. There, the plaintiff filed an apparently incorrect disclosure (not identifying Lumina) and has yet to correct it.
Optronic Sciences targets the provision of various LCD panels, including as integrated into certain Dell laptops and Hisense TVs, as well as OLED panels as integrated into the Apple iPhone 14. The NPE asserted nine patents received as part of a 200-patent portfolio from AUO to Optronic Sciences, assigned on August 2, 2023. The second complaint asserts four more of those received assets. BOE Technology has yet to challenge the plaintiff's standing to sue in the second case, as it has in the first. The exact contours of BOE's standing arguments are obscured by redactions from the public's view. Eastern District of Texas Chief Judge Rodney Gilstrap presides over both cases.
Public records suggest that Optronic Sciences received funding for its litigation efforts, as of July 2023, but the identity of the backer is hidden, through the use of a corporate services organization First Corporate Solutions out of Sacramento, California. Likewise, Paneltouch Technologies also appears to have received funding for its campaign, as of February 2024. The identity of the backer is hidden, also through the use of First Corporate Solutions out of Sacramento, California. Note that a similar pattern—of tiered plaintiff ownership via an entity formed in the state of suit controlled by a Delaware entity itself created the day before, as well as publicly recorded backing by a third party using First Corporate Solutions as its representative—marks the campaign of SoundClear Technologies LLC, which has sued Alphabet (Google) and Amazon (Amazon Web Services), in Virginia instead of in Texas. For further details, see "Funded Monetization Team Appears Up and Running" (June 2024) as updated at "SoundClear Escapes Adverse Alice Judgment, Reveals Principals, Urges Post-Pandemic Update to 'Transfer Jurisprudence'" (March 2025).
Russ August & Kabat represents both Optronic Sciences and Paneltouch Technologies. 2/28, Eastern District of Texas.
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