Litigation Funder Backing Patent Suits Against Major Retailers

Longford Capital has announced it is the financial backer of a spate of patent infringement complaints filed against major retailers on behalf of the University of California at Santa Barbara in an unusual instance of a litigation funder going public with its role in a suit.

The university on Tuesday filed claims against major retailers Amazon.com Inc., Bed Bath & Beyond Inc., Ikea, Target Corp. and Walmart Inc. in Los Angeles federal court alleging rampant violation of patents related to filament LED lightbulb technology. The school separately asked the U.S. International Trade Commission to halt the companies from importing the ...