A recent order from Chief Judge Colm Connolly in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware may serve as a warning for “patent trolls”—the derogatory term used to describe companies whose sole function is to acquire and then assert patents, often in cases that are questionable on the merits—against filing cases in Delaware going forward.
On Nov. 27, 2023, Connolly issued a scathing 105-page order detailing his inquiry into plaintiffs Nimitz Technologies LLC (Nimitz), Mellaconic IP LLC (Mellaconic) and Lamplight Licensing LLC (Lamplight), three limited liability companies (LLCs) set up as shell companies in a scheme orchestrated by IP Edge LLC (IP Edge), a self-proclaimed patent monetization firm, to purportedly skirt legal liabilities.
