NPEs entered 2025 continuing their Q4 wave of filings with many entities filing actions for each of the last three months. Frequent filers included AML IP, Cedar Lane Technologies, Consolidated Transaction Processing, Context Direction, DataCloud Technologies, EasyWeb Innovations, K.Mizra, Linfo IP, Nearby Systems, Patent Armory, QR Switch, Quantion, Random Chat, Secure Matrix, Valtrus Innovations, and Virtual Creative Artists.

As usual, I prepared the report in partnership with and using Docket Navigator and its powerful database. Docket Navigator is a valuable resource, and the place to go if you want to keep track of new patent litigation filings or want to know what is happening in particular cases, how your judge has historically handled a particular type of motion, or a particular plaintiff’s litigation history. Finally, please let me know if you have thoughts about the report or changes you would like to see. I am preparing it as a service for retailers and their supply chain who may want an overview of the patent litigation landscape. So, I am very open to your suggestions for improving the report.

AML IP LLC v. KURU Footwear, Inc. (D. Utah, W.D. Tex.).

Judge:             District Judge Howard C. Nielson, Jr.

Claims:           Infringement

Defendants:

  • 7-Eleven, Inc.
  • KURU Footwear, Inc.

Plaintiff:         AML IP LLC

Pls. Cnsl:        Ramey

Patent:            7,177,838 (Method and apparatus for conducting electronic commerce transactions using electronic tokens)

Cedar Lane Technologies Inc. v. Alterna Securities, Inc. (W.D. Tex., E.D. Tex.).

Claims:           Infringement

Defendants:

  • Alterna Securities, Inc.
  • ASUSTeK Computer, Inc.

Plaintiff:         Cedar Lane Technologies Inc.

Pls. Cnsl:        Rabicoff Law

Patents:          8,577,782 (Trading with conditional offers for semi-anonymous participants); 10,346,105 (Method and system for communicating between a remote printer and a server); 6,516,147 (Scene recognition method and system using brightness and ranging mapping)

Consolidated Transaction Processing LLC v. The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (multiple cases) (E.D. Tex.).      

Judge:             District Judge Amos L. Mazzant, III

Claims:           Infringement

Defendants:

  • The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company 
  • Genuine Parts Company
  • Hibbett Retail, Inc. f/k/a Hibbett Sporting Goods, Inc. 
  • Northern Tool & Equipment Company, Inc. 
  • Tractor Supply Company

Plaintiff:         Consolidated Transaction Processing LLC

Pls. Cnsl:        Shea Beaty

Patents:          8,396,743 (Sending targeted product offerings based on personal information); 8,712,846 (Sending targeted product offerings based on personal information)

Context Direction LLC v. Huffines Chevrolet Lewisville, Inc. et al (E.D. Tex.).

Judge:             District Judge Rodney Gilstrap

Claims:           Infringement

Defendants:

  • Huffines Chevrolet Lewisville, Inc. d/b/a Huffines Chevrolet
  • Huffines Dodge Plano GP, Inc.
  • Huffines G Plano, Inc.
  • Huffines H McKinney, LP
  • Huffines H Plano, Inc.
  • Huffines K McKinney, (GP), LLC

Plaintiff:         Context Direction LLC

Pls. Cnsl:        Direction IP Law

Patents:          10,142,791 (Method and system for context awareness of a mobile device); 11,057,738 (Adaptive context detection in mobile devices); 9,807,564 (Method for detecting context of a mobile device and a mobile device with a context detection module)

DataCloud Technologies, LLC v. Walgreen Co. (N.D. Ill., D. Del., E.D. Tex.).

Judges:           District Judge John F. Kness; District Judge Georgia N. Alexakis

Claims:           Infringement

Defendants:

  • Walgreen Co. d/b/a Walgreens
  • Etsy, Inc.
  • Euromarket Designs, Inc. d/b/a Crate & Barrel
  • Designer Brands Inc.

Plaintiff:         DataCloud Technologies, LLC

Pls. Cnsl:        Stamoulis & Weinblatt; Rozier Hardt McDonough

Patents:          6,560,613 (Disambiguating file descriptors); 6,651,063 (Data organization and management system and method); 7,209,959 (Apparatus, system, and method for communicating to a network through a virtual domain providing anonymity to a client communicating on the network)

EasyWeb Innovations LLC v. BuiltWith Pty Ltd (multiple cases) (E.D. Tex.).   

Claims:           Infringement

Defendants:

  • BuiltWith Pty Ltd 
  • ContactOffice Group 
  • PocketSmith Ltd. 

Plaintiff:         EasyWeb Innovations, LLC

Pls. Cnsl:        Hecht Partners

Patent:            10,114,905 (Individual user selectable multi-level authorization method for accessing a computer system)

K.Mizra LLC v. Epson America, Inc. et al (C.D. Cal.).

Claims:           Infringement

Defendants:

  • Epson America, Inc.
  • Seiko Epson Corporation

Plaintiff:         K.Mizra LLC

Pls. Cnsl:        Payne & Fears; Sheridan Ross

Patents:          10,018,938 (Network system comprising customer replaceable unit); 7,570,400 (Document reading device); 9,769,342 (Electric apparatus)

Linfo IP LLC v. Air Oasis LLC (N.D. Tex., W.D. Tex., M.D. Fla.).

Judge:             District Judge David C. Godbey

Claims:           Infringement

Defendants:

  • Air Oasis LLC
  • The Knot Worldwide, Inc.
  • Airplantshop.com, Inc.

Plaintiff:         Linfo IP, LLC

Pls. Cnsl:        Ramey; Law Office of Victoria E. Brieant

Patent:            9,430,131 (System, methods, and user interface for organizing unstructured data objects)

Nearby Systems LLC v. International Dairy Queen, Inc. et al (multiple cases) (E.D. Tex.).

Judges:           District Judge Rodney Gilstrap; Magistrate Judge Roy S. Payne

Claims:           Infringement

Defendants:

  • American Dairy Queen Corporation
  • International Dairy Queen, Inc.
  • Texas Dairy Queen Operators Council
  • Caleres, Inc. d/b/a Famous Footwear

Plaintiff:         Nearby Systems LLC

Pls. Cnsl:        Rozier Hardt McDonough

Patents:          10,469,980 (Mashing mapping content displayed on mobile devices); 11,937,145 (Mashing mapping content displayed on mobile devices); 12,185,177 (Mashing mapping content displayed on mobile devices); 9,532,164 (Mashing mapping content displayed on mobile devices)

Ortiz & Associates Consulting, LLC v. Macy’s, Inc. (W.D. Tex., E.D. Tex.).

Judges:           District Judge David Counts; District Judge Rodney Gilstrap; Magistrate Judge Roy S. Payne

Claims:           Infringement

Defendants:

  • Macy’s, Inc.
  • The Kroger Co.
  • Staples, Inc. 
  • Costco Wholesale Corporation 
  • Nike, Inc.
  • IKEA US Retail LLC

Plaintiff:         Ortiz & Associates Consulting, LLC

Pls. Cnsl:        Ramey

Patent:            9,549,285 (Systems, methods and apparatuses for brokering data between wireless devices, servers and data rendering devices)

Patent Armory Inc. v. General Electric Company (S.D.N.Y., D. Del.).  

Claims:           Infringement

Defendants:

  • General Electric Company
  • LetsGetChecked, INC. 
  • Corkcicle, LLC
  • EmployBridge Holding Company 
  • Esler Companies, LLC 
  • Expivia Interaction Marketing Group Inc.
  • Fullstory, Inc.
  • Grove Collaborative, Inc. 
  • HoneyLove Sculptwear, Inc. 
  • HRB Digital LLC 

Plaintiff:         Patent Armory Inc.

Pls. Cnsl:        Rabicoff Law

Patents:          10,237,420 (Method and system for matching entities in an auction); 10,491,748 (Intelligent communication routing system and method); 7,023,979 (Telephony control system with intelligent call routing); 7,269,253 (Telephony control system with intelligent call routing); 9,456,086 (Method and system for matching entities in an auction)

QR Switch, LLC v. Sam’s East, Inc. (multiple cases) (E.D. Tex.).            

Judges:           District Judge Rodney Gilstrap; agistrate Judge Roy S. Payne

Claims:           Infringement

Defendants:

  • Sam’s East, Inc.
  • Sam’s West, Inc. d/b/a Sam’s Club 
  • Wal-Mart.com USA, LLC
  • Walmart, Inc. 
  • QTR Corporation
  • QuikTrip Corporation d/b/a QuikTrip 

Plaintiff:         QR Switch, LLC

Pls. Cnsl:        Charhon Callahan Robson & Garza

Patent:            8,532,632 (Cellphone changing an electronic display that contains a barcode); 9,294,542 (Systems and methods for changing an electronic display that contains a barcode)

Quantion LLC v. Wyndham Hotel Group, LLC (E.D. Tex., W.D. Tex.).

Judge:             District Judge David Counts

Claims:           Infringement

Defendants:

  • Enea AB
  • Wyndham Hotel Group, LLC
  • Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc.
  • Hyatt Hotels Corporation

Plaintiff:         QUANTION LLC

Pls. Cnsl:        Rabicoff Law

Patent:            7,734,283 (Internet accessing method from a mobile station using a wireless network)

Random Chat, LLC v. Amazon.com, Inc. (W.D. Tex., E.D. Tex.).

Judges)           District Judge David Counts; District Judge Rodney Gilstrap

Claims:           Infringement

Defendant:

  • Amazon.com, Inc.
  • URBN US Retail LLC f/k/a Anthropologie, Inc.
  • Aldo US, Inc.

Plaintiff:         Random Chat, LLC

Pls. Cnsl:        Ramey

Patent:            8,402,099 (Method for carrying out a multimedia communication based on a network protocol, particularly tcp/ip and/or udp)

Secure Matrix LLC v. Mattress Firm, Inc. (multiple cases) (E.D. Tex.).

Judges:           Magistrate Judge Roy S. Payne; District Judge Robert W. Schroeder, III

Claims:           Infringement

Defendants:

  • American Airlines, Inc.
  • Brookshire Grocery Company
  • Cavender’s Out Of State Stores Ltd. 
  • Celebrating Home Direct LLC 
  • Coburn Supply Company, Inc. 
  • Dal-tile Corporation 
  • Dickey’s Barbecue Restaurants, Inc. 
  • Mattress Firm, Inc.
  • Penney OpCo LLC d/b/a JCPenney 
  • Posados Cafe, Inc.
  • Rent-A-Center, Inc.
  • Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc.
  • Taco Bueno Restaurants, Inc.
  • TGI Fridays Franchisor, LLC 
  • The Mens Wearhouse, LLC 
  • Twin Peaks Restaurants, LP 

Plaintiff:         Secure Matrix LLC

Pls. Cnsl:        Rabicoff Law

Patent:            8,677,116 (Systems and methods for authentication and verification)

Valtrus Innovations Ltd. et al v. The Home Depot, Inc. et al (E.D. Tex.).

Claims:           Infringement

Defendants:

  • Home Depot USA, Inc.
  • The Home Depot, Inc.

Plaintiffs:

  • Key Patent Innovations Ltd.
  • Valtrus Innovations Ltd.

Pls. Cnsl:        Fabricant

Patents:          7,068,597 (System and method for automatic load balancing in a data-over-cable network); 7,107,326 (Method and system for integrating ip address reservations with policy provisioning); 7,120,832 (Storage device performance monitor); 7,640,332 (System and method for hot deployment/redeployment in grid computing environment); 7,904,686 (Data security for use with a file system)

Virtual Creative Artists, LLC v. Lowe’s Home Centers, LLC (W.D. Wash., W.D. Tex.).   

Judge:             David A. Ezra

Claims:           Infringement

Defendants:

  • Lowe’s Home Centers, LLC 
  • Redfin Corporation 
  • Wayfair LLC

Plaintiff:         Virtual Creative Artists, LLC

Pls. Cnsl:        Mann Law Group; Direction IP Law

Patents:          9,477,665 (Revenue-generating electronic multi-media exchange and process of operating same); 9,501,480 (Revenue-generating electronic multi-media exchange and process of operating same)