Umbra Technologies Ltd.

Umbra Technologies Ltd. is a non-practicing entity (NPE) that acquires and asserts patents related to network technology. It operates through a network of associated private companies, including entities registered in the British Virgin Islands, the United States (Delaware and Rhode Island), Hong Kong, and Ireland. In legal filings, these entities are described as "individual private companies in association with each other doing business collectively as Umbra technologies." In 2023, the companies disclosed that they were privately owned by Creative Digital Design Ltd., a private company organized in the United Kingdom.

Umbra Technologies does not appear to manufacture products or offer services. Instead, its business is focused on monetizing a portfolio of patents through licensing and litigation. A 2020 press release stated the company's goal was to "enter into positive licensing arrangements with various global players." The company's patent portfolio covers technologies related to secure network optimization, virtual private networks (VPNs), software-defined wide-area networking (SD-WAN), firewall systems, and efficient data routing. In December 2025, DarkPulse, Inc. announced a non-exclusive, royalty-bearing license agreement for Umbra's patent portfolio for use in critical infrastructure monitoring.

The company is an active patent plaintiff and has filed no defensive lawsuits, a litigation pattern typical of an NPE. As the provided case list shows, Umbra Technologies has sued Zscaler, Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, a venue known for being favorable to patent plaintiffs. Beyond the tracked case, Umbra has also filed patent infringement suits against other major technology companies, including Palo Alto Networks, Fortinet, Cisco, and Juniper Networks, often in the Eastern District of Texas.

The asserted patents have been challenged at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). For example, Unified Patents, an organization that challenges patents asserted by NPEs, filed for an ex parte reexamination of an Umbra patent asserted against Zscaler in April 2026. In a separate proceeding, the PTAB declined to invalidate claims of an Umbra patent in an inter partes review initiated by Cisco.