IP Edge-Linked Patent Owner Held in Contempt for Flouting Orders

The federal judge spearheading a contentious litigation-funding investigation held in contempt the owner of patent holding firm Backertop Licensing LLC for repeatedly failing to appear as ordered and refusing to participate in courtroom hearings.

Chief Judge Colm F. Connolly, in an opinion issued Monday in the US District Court for the District of Delaware, said that he would sanction Lori LaPray, with a daily fine until she appears at the Wilmington courthouse.

Connolly has been looking into the structures of limited liability companies as he probes the funding behind growing number of patent-infringement cases before the court. LaPray, a ...