- within Litigation and Mediation & Arbitration topic(s)
So far in September, Mesa Digital LLC, an entity associated with Ortiz & Lopez, PLLC (d/b/a OL PATENTS), has added cases against Dell (7:25-cv-00393) in the Western District of Texas and HP (2:25-cv-00940) and Schok (2:25-cv-00937) in the Eastern District of Texas. The three asserted patents, asserted in overlapping sets, are broadly directed to an "electronic wireless hand held media device", with the defendants accused of infringement through devices (laptops, tablets, and smartphones, respectively) that support features related to wireless communications using Wi-Fi, cellular networking (via a nano SIM), and/or Bluetooth.
Belonging to a family of 36, the asserted patents (9,031,537; 9,646,444; 10,182,144)—with Schok accused of infringing the '537 patent, and Dell and HP, the '444 and '144 patents—issued between May 2015 and January 2019 with an estimated priority June 2000. RPX acquired sublicense rights to the patents-in-suit in March 2022 (further details about which can be found here). Luis M. Ortiz—a patent lawyer and named partner of OL PATENTS—is a named inventor on the patents from the family, as is (for some) Kermit D. Lopez, also a patent attorney and named partner of OL PATENTS. For more on activity by other Ortiz & Lopez plaintiffs, see "Front Row Starts Litigating 'Venue Positioning System' Patent" (January 2022).
Mesa Digital is one of three controlled entities through which OL PATENTS has litigated this campaign since its launch in September 2008. The others are Front Row Technologies LLC and Ortiz & Associates Consulting, LLC (OAC). To date, a majority of suits in the campaign—which has seen roughly 80 defendants sued and around 20 patents asserted—have been dismissed prior to any substantive litigation having occurred. Most recently, OAC sued IKEA and McDonald's in May 2025 (over the provision of mobile apps that support the use of codes). To date, the May cases and those against Costco (sued by OAC in January 2025), Macy's (also sued by OAC in January 2025) and Screencloud (sued by OAC in April 2025) remain active, each at the early stages of litigation. OAC's appeal of a $117K shift of attorney fees, in an earlier case against VIZIO, is also ongoing before the Federal Circuit (with the latest docket entry being in December 2024). For RPX coverage on this campaign, see "Associated Plaintiffs Pepper Existing Defendants with New Complaints, Argue Elsewhere That 'A Settlement Offer of $149,000 Should Not Be Considered Nuisance Value'" (November 2024).
The new West Texas case has been assigned to District Judge David Counts, and the East Texas cases, to District Judge Robert W. Schroeder III. Ramey LLP represents the plaintiff in litigation. Dell is targeted over the provision of the 7210 2-in-1 Laptop; HP, over the HP Elite x2 1013 G3 Tablet 45SA8UT; and Schok, over the Schok Volt SV67Q 4G smartphone. 9/2, Dell, Western District of Texas; 9/5, Schok, 9/8, HP, Western District of Texas.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
