Monetization Firms, Familiar Individuals, and Inventor-Controlled Plaintiffs Target E-Commerce and Software Products in Q4
March 11, 2026
The top market sector for NPE litigation in Q4 2025 was E-Commerce and Software, accounting for 36% of the defendants added to patent litigation campaigns during the quarter. Consumer Electronics and PCs saw the second highest amount of NPE litigation in Q4, followed by Networking, Financial Services, and Mobile Communications and Devices.
Plaintiffs filing litigation in this sector during the fourth quarter included several related to known patent monetization firms and licensors. In mid-November, OptimNet LLC, a Texas NPE linked to Korean monetization firm IP T&A Co., Ltd. (apparently d/b/a Intellectual Property Transaction and Analysis), launched a new campaign over various cloud services over patents exclusively licensed from the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), a Korean research institution. Earlier that month, Connected Orange LLC—a plaintiff controlled by Texas-based Equip IP Management LLC—filed its inaugural complaint targeting mobile devices that utilize certain mobile payment services, among other products. Public records indicate that the plaintiff filed suit after obtaining litigation funding, the second plaintiff linked to Equip IP known to have done so after NeoLayer LLC.
Nearby Systems LLC, a plaintiff associated with Texas monetization firm Empire IP LLC, also expanded its ongoing campaign in late October with two more cases against mobile apps with features related to displaying maps and locating banks or stores. Additionally, Arlington Technologies, LLC, a subsidiary of Texas-based Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC, filed litigation in late October over AI-based systems and services focused on avatar, character, and assistant creation as well as video, audio, and speech processing. Also, WirelessWERX IP LLC—an NPE associated with Dynamic IP Deals, LLC (d/b/a DynaIP) and affiliated entity Pueblo Nuevo LLC—filed new cases targeting various platforms and products with geofencing functionality in early October.
Other plaintiffs hitting this space in Q4 included several plaintiffs linked to some familiar individuals engaged in patent monetization. Those include former IP Navigation Group, LLC (d/b/a IPNav) head Erich Spangenberg, whose newest monetization outlet, SIM IP, filed its first US suit through subsidiary Friendship IP Protection LLC (f/k/a SIM IP 6 LLC) in mid-December, targeting social media platforms. In mid-November, Texas NPE Congruent Media Resourcing LLC also began litigating a former OpenPeak patent against providers of cybersecurity products with secure application technology. That plaintiff is controlled by two individuals linked to a growing web of other plaintiffs, including Optimum Vector Dynamics LLC, VE Opening LLC, and Vision Sphere Labs LLC.
Additionally, in early November, Adaptive Classification Technologies LLC kicked off its first campaign with two complaints against providers of e-discovery platforms with predictive coding and text analytics features. That plaintiff is managed by a patent attorney who was previously much more active in the patent monetization space but appears to be gearing up once again, judging by the assignment of patents earlier in 2025 to two other entities under his control—Atomic IP LLC and Vision Augmentation Technology LLC—that have yet to file litigation.
Also suing over various products in this sector were a group of New Mexico plaintiffs linked to a patent monetization professional who appears to be linked to a growing number of other litigating NPEs: DynaMuse LLC, which in mid-November started a campaign over music streaming platforms with various features related to media organization and playback control; SynchroFi LLC, which began a campaign over various online platforms with two-factor authentication features in late October; UpChat LLC, which filed its first litigation over mobile ordering apps with phone number authentication and delivery tracking features, also in late October; and Tesseract Systems LLC, which filed its second case in early October, targeting neural network training frameworks.
Still more plaintiffs filing E-Commerce and Software Litigation in Q4 were several inventor-controlled NPEs: Primos Storage Technology LLC targeted cloud service infrastructure in a late-December complaint; BenedorTSE LLC filed suits over secure payment apps and services in mid-November and late December; Adaptive Avenue Associates, Inc. tagged another company over its website’s slideshow features in late November; and iScan2D Technologies, LLC launched a campaign targeting wearables with certain user interface features related to device pairing in early November.
See RPX’s fourth-quarter review for more on the key trends that shaped patent litigation in Q4 2025.