As the exclusive licensee of five asserted patents held by the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), OptimNet LLC has sued Verizon (Verizon Wireless and several other subsidiaries) (2:25-cv-00628) in the Eastern District of Texas. The plaintiff targets the provision of passive optical networking (PON) systems, including systems using the Next Generation Passive Optical Network 2 (NG-PON2) standard, as used in part to provide backhaul for Verizon's 5G network. The infringing aspects of those systems are further described as comprising "network devices that employ Verizon's OTU4 network", including certain Infinera transponders and muxponders, that "utilize the ITU-T G.709/Y.1331 OTU4 infrastructure across Verizon's optical backbone"; as well as "Verizon's wavelength services products, including customer premise network equipment (CPNE)", the aforementioned Infinera products, and optical transport systems from Alcatel-Lucent, Ciena, and Nokia-Siemens.
As noted, OptimNet pleads that it is the exclusive licensee of the asserted patents (8,689,085; 8,781,323; 9,136,968; 9,197,351; 9,825,710), which originated with and are currently held by ETRI, a South Korean research institution. Background for this setup—ETRI as patentholder exclusively licensing an entity that then files suit against others, including, previously, the big three wireless carriers—can be read at "2018 Patent Marketplace Trends: ETRI Continues Its Attempts to Exclusively License Patent Assertion Entities" (December 2018). As that title of that article suggests, the nature of past "exclusive license" agreements with ETRI has been questioned in court.
The complaint describes the patents asserted here as broadly related to various aspects of PON networks. (The complaint describes an NG-PON2 system as one that "supports multiple wavelength channels and enables flexibility to add capacity as the demand grows to 100 Gbit/s and beyond".) OptimNet asserts that Verizon's infringement has been willful, alleging knowledge or willful blindness stemming from the fact that Verizon implemented the G.709/Y.1331 standard for which ETRI had disclosed certain patents and committed to licensing "on a non-discriminatory basis and on reasonable terms and conditions", without reaching out to discuss a license.
OptimNet was formed in Texas on May 7, 2025, naming as its managing member and organizer Arista Holdings Co., Ltd. As RPX previously reported, Arista Holdings is apparently a Korean entity for which Jungkil Nam has signed as its CEO in documents filed with the USPTO. Nam signed the certificate of formation for OptimNet in that same capacity. Nam is a cofounder and managing partner of ISIS IP Law LLC, an IP firm based at the same address and is listed as the CEO of IP T&A Co., Ltd. (apparently d/b/a Intellectual Property Transaction and Analysis), the website of which indicates a focus on transactions and monetization.
To this court, which does not impose heightened disclosure requirements on litigants, OptimNet "states that no publicly held company owns 10% or more of OptimNet LLC's stock". Russ August & Kabat filed the complaint for OptimNet. The suit has been assigned to District Judge Rodney Gilstrap. 6/12, Eastern District of Texas.
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