Context: Acer has been embroiled in litigation against standard-essential patent (SEP) owners Nokia and Ericsson for some time now. Nokia began enforcing its patents against the Taiwanese consumer electronics maker in the Unified Patent Court (UPC) almost a year ago, before expanding its campaign to Germany, the United States (April 11, 2025 ip fray article), Brazil, and India (June 13, 2025 ip fray article). Acer has since retaliated with a UK FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory licensing) complaint (June 12, 2025 LinkedIn post by ip fray). That dispute recently took a turn when the Munich I Regional Court’s 7th Civil Chamber ordered Germany-wide injunctions against Acer over one of the asserted patents (January 23, 2026 ip fray article). Acer then filed patent infringement complaints in the Eastern District of Texas against AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon (January 12, 2026 ip fray article). Meanwhile, last month, Ericsson filed a declaratory judgment (DJ) complaint against Acer with the United States District Court for the District of Delaware (February 18, 2026 ip fray article).
What’s new: Acer has recently transferred one of its patents to a non-practicing entity (NPE) named Securox LLC, according to the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO’s) assignment records (more details below the box).
Direct impact and wider ramifications: There are no records showing any previous litigation activity by Securox LLC, which is a small NPE based in New Mexico that first registered as a business on December 23, 2025. While the transaction is minor and may also have no consequences, it is interesting to keep track of Acer’s actions as it continues to litigate its patents against Nokia and Ericsson in the field of communications electronics. It should also be noted that the assignment occurred before Ericsson filed its DJ complaint, meaning Acer may have known it was coming and decided to divest the patent for a reason.
The patent was assigned on February 5, but the assignment was not recorded until February 26. The patent is:
- U.S. Patent No. 8,699,952 (“Electronic apparatus, proximity network system and connecting method thereof”
