Pegasus Wireless Innovation LLC has filed a second complaint against each of AT&T (AT&T Mobility, Cricket Wireless, New Cingular Wireless PCS) (2:25-cv-00290), Deutsche Telekom (Sprint, T-Mobile) (2:25-cv-00289), and Verizon (TracFone Wireless, Verizon Wireless) (2:25-cv-00288), here targeting the provision of their respective mobile networks and related base stations, as well as the sale of related devices (e.g., smartphones, including those manufactured by Alphabet (Google) or Motorola), that operate in accordance with the 3GPP 4G/LTE and 5G Standards. Both Ericsson and Nokia have intervened in the first round of suits against the US wireless carriers. A claim construction hearing was held there on March 13, 2025, but the litigation to date has otherwise focused on the relationship between Pegasus Wireless and third-party defendant KT, the source of the patents-in-suit.
Pegasus was formed in Virginia in August 2022, with Yeasun "Eric" Yoon of Capitol IP Law Group, PLLC as its CEO. On social media, Yoon holds himself out as having served as a "Patent Attorney / Managing Director" with Capitol IP Law Group since October 2019; his prior positions include "Head of Intellectual Property Department" with NHN (from April 2009 through March 2012), "Director of Patent & Law Group" with Seoul Semiconductor (from September 2007 through April 2009), and "Senior Patent Engineer" with Samsung Electronics (from January 1995 through September 2007).
KT is a Korean telecommunications company. Pegasus Wireless has leaned heavily on KT's history, of "actively contribut[ing] to the development of advanced telecommunications platforms including 4G/LTE and 5G", of "participat[ing] in dozens of meetings with standard-setting organizations to help standardize wireless technology, including 4G/LTE and 5G". Pegasus pleads that "KT has declared over 720 patent families as essential to wireless telecommunications standards to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute ('ETSI')". It further notes (repeatedly) that KT "holds more than 3,000 worldwide patents and patent applications related to wireless technology".
The wireless carrier defendants—and Ericsson and Nokia later—pleaded claims against KT Telecom and Pegasus in response to the Pegasus complaints, claims for breach of contract and failure to negotiate in good faith, based on obligations to offer licenses to certain patents on fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory (FRAND) terms. Pegasus filed motions to dismiss those claims against it (i.e., as counterclaims) and sought to have any claims against KT severed from its actions while KT filed motions to dismiss the claims against it (i.e., as third-party claims) for lack of personal jurisdiction. An agreed-upon 60-day period of jurisdictional discovery opened, with presiding District Judge Rodney Gilstrap granting KT a motion for a protective order against nonjurisdictional discovery, simultaneously denying a defendant/intervenor motion to compel such discovery.
In its briefing, KT explains that in late 2022 it entered into two agreements with Pegasus Wireless. On September 7, 2022, the pair inked an "exclusive license agreement", which was later amended (on November 4, December 8, and December 23, 2022) such that as of the end of December 2022, "KT granted Pegasus an exclusive license for 80 patent families, including the Asserted Patents". Per KT, "The addendums maintained the same assignment terms as the September 7 Exclusive License Agreement". Meanwhile, on September 30, 2022, an "Agency Agreement for Patent Monetization" was signed between the two. The metes and bounds of that agreement are redacted from public view.
During the permitted jurisdictional discovery, KT served a privilege log, two documents listed on which the defendants/intervenors have asked the court to order be turned over because a KT representative testified that, at that point, litigation was not anticipated. KT has opposed that motion to compel, producing to the court these documents for its own review. Per the motion to compel: "In 2022, KT appointed Pegasus as its licensing agent for its patent portfolio", and the documents sought would further the argument that the actions of Pegasus Wireless should be imputed to KT Telecom for jurisdictional purposes. The court has yet to rule on this motion, the defendant/intervenor motion for leave to file a supplemental brief based on anything learned from these withheld documents, or on the underlying motions to dismiss counterclaims (against Pegasus) and third-party claims (against KT).
As noted, the court held a Markman hearing on March 13, 2025. Eleven patents were asserted in that December 2023 round of complaints (9,894,644; 10,009,161; 10,181,931; 10,594,460; 10,616,932; 10,638,463; 10,721,118; 11,219,000; 11,405,942; 11,540,272; 11,627,631). Pegasus alleges that it sent separate December 16, 2022 letters to the defendants concerning its portfolio, that negotiations occurred over the year that followed, and that no agreement for a FRAND license was reached. Now, Pegasus Wireless adds infringement allegations of five more former KT Telecom patents (10,791,530; 10,897,720; 10,925,079; 11,569,958; 11,671,218), each again alleged to be "essential to the 4G/LTE and 5G standards under 3GPP".
KT has transferred patent assets to a US NPE in the past. In 2020, it moved roughly 40 patents to Golden Eye Technologies LLC, an entity operating under the umbrella of monetization firm Harfang IP Investment Corp. Harfang IP characterizes this portfolio as relating to four technology areas: "4G/5G cellular technologies", "Wi-Fi Passpoint technologies", "Wi-Fi HaLow (IEEE 802.11ah) technologies", and "[l]ocation-based services in a Wi-Fi environment". Golden Eye has yet to file suit over its received assets in the US. Also, Howlink Global LLC sued AT&T and Verizon over patents from a portfolio arriving indirectly from KT (via Value Innovation Partners Co., Ltd.); background coverage of that litigation, which ended in July 2023, can be read at "Texas LLC Takes Aim at AT&T, Verizon with Former KT Patents" (February 2022).
The defendants/intervenors in the Pegasus Wireless cases have also sought discovery, through international conventions, of Samsung, seemingly related to whether Samsung marked products licensed under the patents-in-suit. Susman Godfrey LLP represents Pegasus. 3/12, Eastern District of Texas.
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