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The unique case
WSOU Investments, LLC filed against Huawei at
become a dam (
6: 20-cv-00189,
6: 20-cv-00190,
6: 20-cv-00191,
6: 20-cv-00192,
6: 20-cv-00196,
6: 20-cv-00198,
6: 20-cv-00199,
6: 20-cv-204,
6: 20-cv-205), the WSOU depositing nine new districts
Texas, each claiming a unique patent from a portfolio of
assets received from Nokia (including from
Alcatel-Lucent) throughout 2017. Together, the ten
suitable for a range of networking devices and systems provided by
Huawei.
First of a family of three, the patent claimed in -189
Case (
7,095,713) issued to Alcatel-Lucent in August 2006 with a
priority date estimated in April 2003. NPE accuses Huawei of
counterfeiting by making certain S9300 series available
((for example., S9303, S9306 and S9312) network switches. the
The 713 patent generally relates to “access to tissue”
device “with” multiple system interfaces “.
Composed of a family with a single member, the patent claimed in -190
Case (
7,487,240) generally concerns the verification of network activity and
display the results of this verification, as well as generate
alarms based on certain associated thresholds. He issued to
Alcatel-Lucent in February 2009 with an estimated priority date in
April 2003. WSOU sued Huawei for supplying a network
management products (including the unified network iManager U2000
Management System), targeting performance-related features
fault management and detection.
Composed of a single family of patents, the patent claimed in the
-191 case (
7,508,755) issued to Alcatel-Lucent in March 2009 with a
priority date estimated in July 2003. It is generally intended for a
“system for redirecting traffic from a bidirectional label
Switched Path “. Huawei is charged with the offense through the
provision of routers supporting fast forwarding (FRR) via
Multiprotocol label switching traffic engineering (MPLS TE),
including routers from the Huawei NetEngine 40E series.
Composed of a family of one person, the patent claimed in the case -192
((
7,515,546) issued to Alcatel-Lucent in April 2009 with a
priority date estimated in December 2001. The ‘546 patent
generally concerns “automatic network discovery
devices “that have routing capabilities in a” managed
network “. Huawei is accused of counterfeiting through the
provision of the eSight unified management system, with the
integration of system operations and maintenance (O&M)
management involved.
Second in a family of two members, the patent claimed in the
-196 case (
7,860,512) delivered to Nokia in December 2010 with an estimate
priority date in September 2002. The “512” patent
concerns “management of radio resources and the radio system”.
Huawei is charged with the offense of providing
enterprise networking solutions, including the Huawei eLTE
Integrated access solution.
Composed of a family of one person, the patent claimed in the case -198
((
7,872,973) generally concerns lossless network traffic
management. He delivered to Alcatel-Lucent in January 2011 a
priority date estimated in March 2006. Huawei is accused of
counterfeiting by supplying network switches which
incorporate “queuing functions”,
CloudEngine 6800 Series Switches.
Composed of a single family of patents, the patent claimed in the
-199 cases (
8,200,224) issued to Alcatel-Lucent in June 2012 with a
priority date estimated in December 2008. The ‘224 patent
generally concerns transfer between devices. WSOU accuses Huawei of
counterfeiting through the provision of LTE routers, networks
elements, smartphones, smart home devices, handsets and
terminals and associated software. At issue are the products ”
possibility of transfer via LTE.
Composed of a family to a member, the patent claimed in the -204
Case (
8,417,112) issued to Alcatel-Lucent in April 2013 with a
priority date estimated in May 2003. The “112 patent in general
concerns optical network switching upon detection
faults, Huawei being charged with infringement through the provision
network hardware, including OptiX PTN 3900 optics
1900 series transport platform and routers.
use by protection switching devices.
Composed of a family of one person, the patent claimed in case -205
((
9,084,199) issued to Alcatel-Lucent in July 2015 with a
priority date estimated in September 2004. The ‘199 patent
generally concerns the adjustment of a channel quality indicator (CQI)
channel based on “quality measurements” in a cellular network.
Huawei is charged with basic supply
stations that “generate quality metrics to dynamically adjust
system or CQI channel configurations and power settings “.
WSOU was formed in Delaware in July 2017; his address,
provided in the assignment files, is that of Coast Asset Management,
a “leader in fixed income arbitrage” led by David
Ellison Smith, as well as Juniper Capital
The partners, a “predisposed investment firm
towards troubled or disadvantaged workers with
evaluations “checked by Jay Alexander Wolf. Jointly
with new complaint, WSOU identifies parent company as WSOU Holdings, LLC, a Delaware entity formed
May 7, 2019. The Delaware registers further identify a WSOU Investments II, LLC, a formed entity
there in January 2018, and WSOU Capital Partners, LLC, a formed entity
again on May 7, 2019.
Although Delaware records do not provide information on
Management of the WSOU, patent transfer agreements filed with the
USPTO (for example., this one) sheds light on who is behind:
Craig Etchegoyen (co-founder and CEO of Uniloc Corporation Pty. Limited) signed
On behalf of WSOU (as a member), as did Stuart Shanus (as
member). Shanus (a former partner of Reed Smith LLP) serves as
General Counsel of Wade and Company, a Canadian private company
family office investment firm and investment bank “which,
according to documents filed with the USPTO (for example., the
Annex B1 modified in this document), originally acquired some
Nokia’s patents on July 22, 2017, attributing all of its
interest in the patent purchase contract with WSOU on August 21 (see
Transfer of the patent purchase contract in this document).
On January 7, 2020, Shanus registered WSOU to do business
in Texas, filing a document the same day indicating that the entity
operate under the name of “WSOU Investments”
and a document dated January 21 stating that he would do so under the
name “Brazos Development and Licensing”. (In his
complaints, WSOU says it does business under the name “Brazos
License and development “.)
WSOU received patents from Nokia / Alcatel-Lucent throughout 2017,
with USPTO records indicating that the entity owns nearly 4,200
assets. Certain transfer agreements filed with the USPTO
include a waiver and a waiver of interest, depending on
which, WCFT Cayman (signed by Marc Wade, president of Wade and
Company) and Orange Holdings (a Nevada-controlled entity
Etchegoyen) “had preliminary discussions regarding the
and the operation of WSOU Investments, LLC “. The document
states that WSOU was “subsequently trained to buy
intellectual property of Alcatel Lucent, Nokia Solutions and
Networks BV, Nokia Technologies Oy “but that WCFT Cayman has
never owned any interest in WSOU.
AQUA Licensing LLC was apparently retained by
WSOU to manage the sale of a “large telecommunications patent”
portfolio that previously belonged to Nokia and was developed by
Alcatel-Lucent (“ALU”) / Bell Labs Nokia Technologies and
Nokia Networks “. AQUA describes the portfolio as comprising 6,069
granted patents and 734 patent applications, as well as 3,165
foreign counterparts registered in countries like Germany, France,
and China.
The patents claimed by the WSOU are among some 3,000 patents
assets allocated to WSOU in July 2017. WSOU has granted a guarantee
interest in its portfolio (nearly 4,000 old Nokia / Alcatel-Lucent
active) to OCO Opportunities Master Fund, L.P.
(f / k / a Omega Credit Opportunities Master Fund, LP) in August 2017,
a security that was released on May 16, 2019, the same day
that new security on approximately 2,300 of these
assets – granted to BP Financing Trust, Series
SPL-VI (a “statutory series of BP Funding Trust, a
Delaware statutory trust “), has been registered. BP Funding Trust
seems to be a loan vehicle for Base point
Capital city, a White Plains New York “diversified
specialized funding group “.
These nine new files join a tenth, deposited a few days earlier
against Huawei, details on which we can read
RPX Insight
here. 3/16, 3/18, 3/20, west Texas district.
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