The Ottawa-headquartered commerce company “will aggressively pursue identification of funders in patent litigation cases against us,” general counsel Jess Hertz wrote in a LinkedIn post Wednesday. The company also filed a motion asking a U.S. District Court in Waco, Texas, to force Lower48 IP LLP to disclose any “third-party interests” in its case against Shopify. Lower48’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (The Logic)

Talking point: As Shopify’s business and public profile have grown in recent years, so has its patent-filing activity—and the number of IP infringement suits against it. In September 2022, a jury ordered the firm to pay US$40 million in a case brought by Larkspur, Calif.-based Express Mobile. Hertz said “patent trolls just tear down things to make a profit,” while their “funders, interests, and decision-makers hide cowardly in the shadows.” She wrote that Shopify will back legislation to reveal their identities, and is part of groups lobbying on the issue. The court division in Waco hearing Lower48’s case is a hub for patent-infringement litigation.