Context: Oregon-based Proxense LLC, a non-practicing entity (NPE) that has built a licensing campaign around roughly 90 patents covering wireless communication and biometric authentication technology since 2013, has so far settled with Samsung, Google (January 24, 2025 ip fray, article), and Intel (March 24, 2026 ip fray, article). Its cases against Apple (March 23, 2024 ip fray article) and Microsoft remain stayed, while its case against LG Electronics is pending, and it recently initiated a new case against Cisco over wireless scheduling technology (July 24, 2026 ip fray article). The latter expanded its enforcement campaign into enterprise wireless infrastructure. In an exclusive interview earlier this year, CEO John Giobbi told ip fray that “litigation has been the path [the company has] had to take because the tech giants today just aren’t willing to license patents that they infringe unless you sue them and take them to the mat” (April 7, 2026, ip fray article).
What’s new: Proxense has filed two new patent infringement suits in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against LG and Mastercard, respectively.
Direct impact: In both cases, Proxense is seeking findings of direct, induced, and contributory infringement on all asserted patents, a declaration that the infringement is willful, a permanent injunction or, in the alternative, an ongoing royalty, damages with interest, and a declaration that the cases are exceptional under 35 U.S.C. § 285, which would allow Proxense to seek attorneys’ fees. Mastercard and LG have not yet responded.
Wider ramifications: The expansion of the campaign against LG indicates that its two-year dispute against the company has not yet yielded any significant results, and the defendant has not shown signs of settling. Its new suit against Mastercard is particularly notable as it targets its Mastercard Digital Enablement Service (MDES), the tokenization service through which each of the previous Big Tech players it has targeted pays with Mastercard accounts. Proxense asserts in its complaint that its technology was “years ahead” of the industry: Google Wallet launched in 2011, Apple Pay in 2014, and Samsung Pay in 2015, while Apple’s Touch ID fingerprint sensor was introduced in 2013, and MDES launched in 2014. Yet, following these movements by the Big Tech players, Proxense found itself “unable to compete, even though [it had] invented the technology those solutions use”, the plaintiff claims.
This is the new complaint against LG, filed October 23, 2026:
This is the complaint against Mastercard, filed October 26, 2026:
The asserted patents
The following, both entitled “Biometric personal data key (PDK) authentication”, have been enforced against Mastercard:
The following have been added to the enforcement campaign against LG:
- U.S. Patent No. 9,418,205 (“Proximity-based system for automatic application or data access and item tracking”)
- U.S. Patent No. 9,807,091 (“Proximity-based system for automatic application or data access and item tracking”)
- U.S. Patent No. 10,171,460 (“Proximity-based system for automatic application or data access and item tracking”)
- U.S. Patent No. 11,095,640 (“Proximity-based system for automatic application or data access and item tracking”)
- U.S. Patent No. 8,508,336 (“Proximity-based healthcare management system with automatic access to private information”)
- U.S. Patent No. 8,918,854 (“Proximity-based system for automatic application initialization”)
- U.S. Patent No. 9,450,956 (“Proximity-based system for automatic application initialization”)
- U.S. Patent No. 9,251,332 (“Security system and method for controlling access to computing resources”)
- U.S. Patent No. 11,086,979 (“Security system and method for controlling access to computing resources”)
Mastercard
MDES, which Mastercard describes as a “single integrated platform for Issuers, Wallet Providers, Merchants, and other Token Requestors to enable the digitization of supported Mastercard card types for many digital payment methods”, works in four steps:
- Tokenization replaces the Primary Account Number (PAN)
- The token is specific to the platform, wallet application, device
- Digitization provisions the token to the target platform or device
- The token is used for transactions instead of PAN
The complaint further notes that MDES tokenized transactions using Apple Pay, for example, are performed in the U.S., including in the Southern District of New York, billions of times per year.
The accused instrumentalities include:
- Mastercard Tokens provisioned to Device Wallets (including Apple Pay) on mobile devices
- The Mastercard Token Vault and Mastercard’s token mapping, de-tokenization, and cryptogram validation services
- The Interchange System and Mastercard’s routing of token authorization requests and PAN authorization requests
- The Mastercard Rules, MDES specifications, Token Implementation Plans, and certification and testing programs by which Mastercard governs Issuers, Acquirers, Merchants, and Pass-through DWOs
- Contactless point-of-sale terminals implementing Kernel 2 that are certified to accept Mastercard contactless transactions
The complaint further states that Mastercard is a member of EMVCo, LLC, and the EMV specifications that Mastercard co-authors and relies upon expressly warn that the specifications:
“May provide for the use of public key encryption and other technology, which may be the subject matter of patents in several countries, any party seeking to implement these Specifications is solely responsible for determining whether its activities require a license to any such technology and that any person who implements any part of the EMV® Specifications should consult an intellectual property attorney before any such implementation.”
LG Electronics
Proxense asserts in its fresh complaint against LG that the defendant has known about the patents-in-suit since at least August 10, 2016, when counsel for Proxense sent a letter to Mr. Wayne Park, then CEO of LG Electronics North America, advising LG of Proxense’s portfolio of over 30 patents, enclosing a listing of those patents, and further advising of another over 20 U.S. patent applications pending. Then, Proxense sued LG in the Western District of Texas in June 2024, asserting, among others, the ’332 and ’979 patents.
However, LG “deliberately avoided learning of the scope of Proxense’s issued patents while continuing the accused conduct, subjectively believing there was a high probability that its products infringed Proxense patents”, Proxense alleges.
In its complaint, it lists the following accused products:
- “AI” smart televisions running LG’s webOS operating system such as:
- the 2024- 2026 OLED evo (B/C/G series), QNED evo, NanoCell, and Micro RGB evo model lines; and
- 2022-2024 webOS TV models to which LG delivers current webOS releases through its “webOS Re: New” program.
- All-in-One Thin Client terminals designed specifically for healthcare facilities such as:
- 24CR671IK-6P;
- 24CR661W; and
- predecessor 24CN670N-series models.
Counsel
Proxense is being represented in both cases by Hecht Partners LLP’s David L. Hecht, Maxim Price, Michael S. DeVincenzo, Andrea Pacelli, PhD, Charles Wizenfeld, and Delphine W. Knight Brown.