In late December, NorthStar Systems LLC expanded its first litigation campaign, begun in September 2020, with suits against H&M (2:20-cv-00407), Kohl's (2:20-cv-00404), Lululemon (2:20-cv-00403), Target (2:20-cv-00405), and Walmart (2:20-cv-00406) in the Eastern District of Texas. The three patents-in-suit, received from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV) in two December 2019 assignments, generally relate to a system for tracking an inventory of physical assets equipped with communication devices. The defendants are accused of infringement through the provision of RFID asset tracking systems deployed throughout their locations.

The plaintiff was formed in Texas in December 2019, several weeks before it received its assets, by Thomas P. Schweitzer. That state's records identify two NorthStar managers: Alpha Alpha Intellectual Partners LLC, a Delaware entity created in November 2017 by Schweitzer, and Schweitzer himself. In December 2017, Schweitzer renounced Alpha Alpha's registration in Delaware, moving its state of formation to Wyoming. Schweitzer is associated with several other litigating NPEs, including Longhorn HD LLC, which has launched three litigation campaigns, and Elite Gaming Tech LLC, which has launched one, all four of them also over patents received from IV.

The three asserted patents (6,614,349; 6,697,103; 8,493,442) belong to two separate families. The '349 patent, which comprises a single-member family, issued to Airbiquity—a Seattle-based company that describes itself as a "global leader" in connected vehicle services—in September 2003 and has an estimated priority date in December 1999. Andrew Rimkus (the former VP of Marketing with Airbiquity) and Rod L. Proctor (of uncertain occupation) are the named inventors. The '103 and '442 patents, belonging to a family of seven, issued in February 2003 and July 2013, respectively, and share an estimated priority date in March 1998. Dennis and Irene Hu Fernandez, associated with NPE Fernandez & Associates LLP, are identified as the named inventors of the '103 and '442 patent. As noted, NorthStar acquired its roughly three dozen patent assets in two assignments from IV, dated in December 2019.

NorthStar began this, its first litigation campaign, in September 2020 with a single suit against Macy's; the defendant has yet to answer or file a response to that complaint. In December 2020, the NPE launched a second campaign over certain GPS functionalities, hitting BBK Electronics (Shenzhen OnePlus Science & Technology), Kyocera, TCL (TCT Mobile), and ZTE, all in the Eastern District of Texas; see "Location, Location, Location: NorthStar Systems Kicks Off Second Campaign over Former IV Assets" (December 2020) for more on that campaign. 12/30, Eastern District of Texas.

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