In May, RPX noted the April 2024 transfer of 16 issued US patents to Secure Communication Technologies, LLC, a Texas entity formed this past January. Secure Communication Technologies has now sued, accusing Samsung ( 2:24-cv-00484) of infringing three of the patents transferred through the provision of laptops, smartphones, and tablets that support the Fast Pair, Find My Mobile, Nearby Share, Quick Share, and/or SmartThings Find features.
Prior owner Proxicom Wireless, LLC litigated nine patents from this portfolio between January 2018 and June 2020 against first Macy's and then Target. The alleged infringement of the asserted wireless communications patents was focused on the provision of in-store "beacon technology" systems to provide information about items through apps installed on their mobile devices. The Macy's case ended quickly (although not until after Proxicom filed a motion for sanctions for discovery violations) while Target decimated the portfolio, although not completely, through a series of petitions for inter partes review (IPR).
The asserted patents (11,334,918; 11,443,344; 11,687,971) belong to a family of 27 with issue dates ranging from May 2011 through June 2024. The family has an earliest estimated priority date in September 2008, based on the filing of multiple provisional applications. Prosecution of at least one related application continues before the USPTO. Ownership of the family appears to be split, between the plaintiff here and Proctor Consulting, LLC, an entity formed by named inventors James A. Proctor, III and James A. Proctor, Jr., identified in the new Secure Communication Technologies complaint as father and son.
The Proctors were the only members of Proxicom Wireless. They formed Proxicom in Florida in November 2011; Proctor Consulting, in January 2008. In a motion to lift a stay in the Target case after the defendants' petitions had canceled all but five of the challenged claims, Proxicom argued that at that point it, "a small father and son operation, has invested significant time and resources developing and protecting the technology at issue in this case. As the little guy that large corporations like Target regularly ignore, Proxicom is dependent on the legal system to enforce its rights".
Secure Communication Technologies is a Texas entity, formed on January 12, 2024 under the management of Eric M. Albritton. Albritton, a former named partner with Nelson Bumgardner Albritton P.C. (now Nelson Bumgardner Conroy P.C.) through March 2021, has formed multiple other Texas entities over the past few years: Paracletus Management, LLC, created in January 2021 with Albritton as president; Patented Technology Solutions, LLC, in April 2022, as manager; Ravus Holdings, LLC, in April 2022, as manager; and Albritton Capital Management, LLC, in November 2022, as manager. McKool Smith P.C. and Nelson Bumgardner Conroy P.C. represent the plaintiff. The new case has been assigned to Chief Judge Rodney Gilstrap. 7/3, Eastern District of Texas.
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