Defendant
3 cases as defendant.
I'll research Belkin International to verify the facts before writing.
Let me verify the litigation context.
Belkin International, Inc. (commonly "Belkin") is a US consumer-electronics maker founded April 18, 1983 by Chet Pipkin in Southern California. It is headquartered in the Los Angeles area (Playa Vista/El Segundo, CA). Belkin is privately held and, since September 2018, a wholly owned subsidiary of Foxconn Interconnect Technology (FIT Hon Teng Limited, HKEX: 6088), itself majority-controlled by Hon Hai Precision Industry (Foxconn); the acquisition was reported at roughly $866–886 million. Public sources put headcount at roughly 1,400+ employees worldwide. Belkin reported sales of approximately $789 million for FY2017 and about $1 billion in the 2018 fiscal year (per Financial Times); current figures are not independently disclosed.
Products/operations. Belkin designs and sells consumer and enterprise connectivity accessories: USB-C/GaN wall chargers and power banks (BoostCharge), charging and data cables, screen protection, audio products, docks and USB-C hubs, KVM switches, network switches, surge protectors, and wireless networking gear. It owns the Linksys (home networking/mesh routers) and Wemo (smart-home) brands and the Phyn smart water-management business. It participates in Apple MFi, Samsung SMAPP, and Microsoft "Designed for Surface" partner programs.
Litigation posture. Belkin is an operating company defending, not asserting: 0 cases as plaintiff, 2 as defendant. Both tracked suits were filed by XR Communications, LLC d/b/a Vivato Technologies in the Central District of California — not a plaintiff-friendly Texas venue — and appear to be successive filings in the same dispute (2017 case 8:17-cv-00674 and 2021 case 2:21-cv-04914, consolidated into 8:17-cv-00596).
Context. Vivato is characterized in the Stanford NPE Litigation Database as a failed-startup patent asserter; it acquired Vivato's patents and sued numerous Wi-Fi equipment vendors, also filing separate actions in the Eastern and Western Districts of Texas against AT&T, Amazon, Apple, and others. The Belkin cases concern directed-wireless/MIMO-beamforming patents and accuse Linksys Wi-Fi 5/6 routers and mesh systems. Belkin joined IPRs (with Ruckus, ARRIS, and Netgear) against Vivato's patents; the Federal Circuit affirmed invalidity of U.S. Patent 6,611,231 in 2023.
FISI filed a willful patent infringement suit against Belkin Inc. and Belkin International, Inc., asserting multiple USB-charging patents including 8,330,422. The case settled, and the '422 patent is expressly named in the AO 120 form filed for this action.
2017 Central District of California case asserting the '231 patent along with U.S. 7,062,296 and 7,729,728. It was consolidated and stayed, then resolved via the indefiniteness/collateral-estoppel path.
2021 wireless networking campaign case in C.D. Cal. against Belkin International; listed by XR as involving the '376 patent in IPR2022-00613 mandatory notices.