Texas plaintiff FEC IP LLC has filed separate Eastern District of Texas complaints against Alphabet (Google) (2:25-cv-01089) and Samsung (2:25-cv-01088) as well as a Western District of Texas complaint against Apple (7:25-cv-00504). Asserted in each are overlapping subsets of five patents that originated with Funai Electric and are described in the complaints as covering "systems and methods for video streaming and content sharing by associating multiple electronic devices". FEC IP targets the provision of features such as casting/mirroring, file exchange, media playback, and remote control within a wide variety of products; for example, against Google, those products include "mobile phones, tablets, smart watches, Google Streamers, the Google Cast app, the Google Home app, the Google TV app, the Google Meet app, and the YouTube TV app".
USPTO assignment records have yet to reflect an assignment of the asserted patents (7,631,192; 8,055,187; 8,908,106; 10,171,847; 11,375,254) away from Funai, but the plaintiff pleads that it is the "sole and exclusive owner of all right, title, and interest to and in" them. Apple and Google are accused of infringing all five; Samsung, all but the '254 patent. Funai does not have a history, at least as reflected in currently available USPTO records, of transferring patents to NPEs.
FEC IP was formed in Texas on August 14, 2025, with Light Guide Innovations LLC identified as its manager. Light Guide was created in Texas as well, in June 2024, listing Anjay Technology Partners LLC as its manager. Anjay Technology was formed in Texas on October 4, 2021 with Anjay Venture Partners LLC identified as its sole managing member.
Anjay Venture Partners was formed in California on January 17, 2017, with Deepak Kumar Sharma named as its CEO (Sharma serving as the initial registered agent for Anjay Venture Partners). On social media, Sharma identifies himself as having served as CEO with Anjay Venture Partners—described as a "global consulting firm" that focuses on a wide variety of areas, including technology commercialization and investments—since January 2016. Sharma's prior work history includes positions with Wi-LAN Technologies Inc. and Intellectual Ventures LLC.
FEC IP's new campaign is Anjay Venture's twelfth to date, including an active litigation campaign begun by Light Guide itself in August 2024 with separate complaints filed against first TCL (TCT Mobile and multiple subsidiaries) and then Hisense, both in the Eastern District of Texas. Earlier this year, it also hit Walmart in the same district, targeting the provision of VIZIO products, over the same portfolio, received from Suzhou Lekin Semiconductor Co. Ltd. (d/b/a LEKIN). The pleadings stage of those cases is just now coming to a close before District Judge Robert W. Schroeder III. Then, this past Friday, Light Guide added its own Eastern District of Texas case against Samsung. For coverage, see "Light Guide Targets More 'Televisions and Displays'" (October 2025).
Apple, Google, and Samsung have been sued by Anjay Venture plaintiffs before, having been hit in the operation's first campaign, run through Advanced Coding Technologies LLC (ACT), over former JVCKenwood patents. For recent reporting on that campaign, see "'These Unique Facts' Prompt Unexpected Transfers, DWOPs, and Refilings" (October 2025). Apple and Google remain active defendants in that campaign; the litigation there against Samsung ended in September 2024 after the parties filed a Joint Motion to Stay and Notice of Settlement before Eastern District of Texas Judge Rodney Gilstrap.
Several Anjay Ventures plaintiffs have secured backing from Chicago-based litigation funder Longford Capital Management, including Light Guide Innovations. Longford has backed a long list of patent plaintiffs over the last several years, including AGIS Software Development LLC (ASD), a subsidiary of AGIS Holdings Inc.; BillJCo LLC; G+ Communications, LLC; Jawbone Innovations, LLC; MemoryWeb LLC; and Proven Networks, LLC. For an overview of Longford's activities in the patent space, see here. Evidence in the public record of any backing for FEC IP has yet to appear.
Fabricant LLP filed the new cases for FEC IP. Judge Gilstrap has been assigned to preside over those against Google and Samsung; District Judge David Counts, over the one against Apple. 10/30, Google, Samsung, Eastern District of Texas, Apple, Western District of Texas.
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