Assignment history — US Patent 0220967

Inventors

The named inventors for US Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0220967 A1 are Bjoern Kryka and Joerg Mueller. Based on the application publication, the original applicant and assignee is Deutsche Telekom AG. It is highly probable that both inventors were employed by Deutsche Telekom AG at the time of the patent application's filing on April 29, 2003, as is common practice for employee-generated inventions. No unusual patterns, such as inventors departing the original assignee around the filing date, are determinable from the available public records.

Original assignee

The original assignee on US Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0220967 A1 is Deutsche Telekom AG.

Shipped a product embodying the claims: Deutsche Telekom AG is a global telecommunications company. While they do not "ship" a single product directly embodying the claims (a system and method for navigating hierarchical data structures), it is highly likely that the described system and method would be integrated into their various software applications, operating systems for network management, or customer-facing digital services that involve navigating structured data (e.g., file systems, directories, customer profiles, service options). This would be an internal or embedded technology rather than a standalone product.
Primary line of business: Telecommunications and information technology services, including fixed-network, mobile communications, internet access, and IPTV products and services for consumers and business customers.
Current status: Operating. Deutsche Telekom AG is a major, active, publicly traded company headquartered in Germany.

Assignment timeline

A thorough search of the USPTO Patent Assignment Search database (https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/) for US Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0220967 A1 using its publication number (20040220967) and its underlying application number (10/426,450) yielded no recorded assignments. Similarly, searching for the literal identifier "0220967" did not produce any records.

This indicates that, as of the current date, no transfers of ownership or other assignment-related documents for this specific patent application publication have been officially recorded with the USPTO Assignment Branch. This does not necessarily mean no transfers have occurred, but rather that none have been made public through the USPTO's recordation system.

Timeline diagram

Given that no assignment records were found for US Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0220967 A1, a timeline diagram depicting ownership changes cannot be rendered.

NPE / troll-pattern signals

Due to the absence of recorded assignments for US Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0220967 A1, it is not possible to assess any NPE / troll-pattern signals based on assignment chain characteristics.

Shell-entity transfer: Unclear (no assignment records).
Known asserter in the chain: Not present (no assignment records).
Repeat correspondent across the chain: Not present (no assignment records).
Cascading transfers: Not present (no assignment records).
Pre-litigation transfer: Not present (no assignment records, and no litigation identified in previous sections).
Bankruptcy fire-sale: Not present (no assignment records, and Deutsche Telekom AG is operating).
Privateering: Unclear (no assignment records).
Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE): Not present (no assignment records).

Verdict

Insufficient data

No assignment records are available for US Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0220967 A1 in the USPTO Patent Assignment Search database (https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/). Without any recorded transfers of ownership, it is impossible to analyze the ownership chain for NPE or patent-troll patterns. The application remains associated with the original applicant, Deutsche Telekom AG, in public records.