Longitude Licensing

Longitude Licensing Ltd. (often referred to simply as Longitude) is an intellectual property management company headquartered in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, and founded in July 2013. It is a privately owned entity, part of the IPValue Management Group, which in turn is owned by the technology-focused private equity firm Vector Capital. The company maintains a small operational footprint, reportedly employing 1-10 individuals.

Longitude Licensing operates as a non-practicing entity (NPE), specializing in acquiring, managing, and licensing extensive patent portfolios from established technology companies to maximize their value. Its portfolios, which at times have totaled over 8,000 active patents and applications, cover technologies such as semiconductor design and manufacturing processes, non-volatile storage, display technologies (including OLED and LCD), and consumer electronics. Notable acquisitions include patent assets from companies like Elpida Memory, Intel Corporation, Cypress Semiconductor, United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC), Seiko Epson, and Innolux Corporation.

Longitude Licensing maintains an active patent assertion posture, primarily as a plaintiff in litigation aimed at enforcing its acquired patent rights. The company's sole tracked case, Marlin Semiconductor et al. v. TSMC et al., is an action filed as plaintiff before the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC). Longitude Licensing has also initiated other infringement actions in various U.S. district courts, including the Central District of California and, alongside its affiliate Marlin Semiconductor, in the Western and Eastern Districts of Texas. These lawsuits typically target semiconductor devices and products incorporating such technologies.

The ITC case Marlin Semiconductor et al. v. TSMC et al. involves Longitude Licensing and Marlin Semiconductor, both IPValue subsidiaries, asserting former UMC patents related to semiconductor fabrication against defendants including TSMC, Apple, Broadcom, Qualcomm, Lenovo, and OnePlus. In another notable instance, Longitude Licensing filed a patent infringement suit against Amazon in the Central District of California concerning semiconductor design technologies, which was later stayed pending inter partes review (IPR) proceedings.