New details have come to light in a dispute over allegations of
gamesmanship in inter partes reviews (IPRs) filed by two
third-party challengers, OpenSky Industries and
Patent Quality Assurance (PQA), against VLSI Technology LLC. Earlier this year, a
controversy erupted after VLSI disclosed that OpenSky had offered
to sabotage its own IPRs in exchange for payment, prompting USPTO
Director Kathi Vidal to initiate director review in those
proceedings. Now, the latest round of briefs filed in those
director reviews reveal that this proposal was not the only unusual
financial arrangement unsuccessfully floated by OpenSky.
The IPRs at issue were prompted by VLSI's litigation against
Intel, which the NPE has sued many times since
opening up its campaign against the company in 2017—asserting
former NXP patents in the Northern District of
California, in the District of Delaware, in the Western District of
Texas, and in multiple Chinese venues. 2021 saw two trials, with
