Intel, Tech Firms Back Connolly Patent Litigation Funding Probes

Chief Judge Colm F. Connolly of Delaware’s federal court is justified in investigating the sources of funding behind patent-infringement lawsuits that he believes are suspect, a swath of technology companies told the Federal Circuit.

Connolly had authority to issue his standing orders that force parties to disclose when they’ve accepted litigation funding from an outside source, and he should be allowed to keep digging, Intel Corp. argued in a friend-of-the-court brief. Intel has faced a pair of monumental jury losses to a patent plaintiff known as a “nonpracticing entity,” a firm that holds patents for enforcement or licensing purposes, but ...