Judge Connolly’s Investigative Powers Upheld Again on Appeal (1)

The Federal Circuit upheld a Delaware judge’s sanctions of a Texas paralegal and LLC owner handed down as part of his sweeping judicial investigation of patent monetization firm IP Edge LLC.

The ruling gives fresh wind to Chief Judge Colm F. Connolly’s probe of a cluster of patent-assertion entities with undisclosed ties to IP Edge. Connolly started examining litigation funding in late 2022, and subsequently aired concerns of possible fraud committed by IP Edge-connected lawyers who he suggested were secretly controlling lawsuits filed in his courtroom in the US District Court for the District of Delaware.

Since July 2023 Lori ...