Invalidity dossier
US 1006701
Animal-trap.
Current assignee: Individual
Added 9/21/2026, 1:04:43 PM
Active provider: DeepSeek · deepseek-flash
Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
Patent Overview — US 1006701
Title: Animal-Trap.
Patentee/Inventor: Arthur Sutemeier, of Avalon, county of Los Angeles, State of California.
Assignee: None identified in the supplied excerpt; the source lists the original assignee and current assignee as "Individual." No assignment or transfer information is conveyed by the excerpt.
Key dates (per supplied source):
- Application filed: December 5, 1910 (Serial No. 595,804)
- Patent granted/issued: October 24, 1911
- Source-listed legal status: Expired – Lifetime (anticipated expiration October 24, 1928)
Purpose: The invention relates to animal traps of the class in which the animal may be taken alive if desired. The stated objects are (1) a self-resetting trap permitting a plurality of captures "without the necessity of inspection or manual re-setting of the trap," and (2) economical, simple construction and operation, "adapted for trapping various kinds of animals without change in construction."
Plain-language scope (from the supplied description and claims): A tank or receptacle (1) has a hinged lid (2) with a central opening. A platform (4) lies in that opening, pivoted at each end to the lid by pins (5) in bearing-plates (6), so it can revolve in either direction. A longitudinal division wall (7) extends upwardly, with a similar wall (8) below, and circular end plates (9, 10) close the ends. An arched semi-cylindrical cover (11) with flanged lower edges (12) is secured to the lid, forming two chambers (13, 14) with entrance openings (15, 17) cut away in the end plates. Spring-detents (19, 20) with shoulders (21) rest on the lid and carry bait hooks (23) projecting through slots (22). Pulling the bait releases the detent; the animal's weight tilts the platform (limited by extension 25 of wall 8 striking the lid's underside), dropping the animal into the tank. The platform returns because the greater part of the end-plates' weight lies below the pivots. A modified form (Fig. 6) has a single entrance (28) and an added weight (29); water may optionally be placed in the tank for drowning animals such as rats.
What the excerpt does not establish: It does not establish litigation, ownership transfers, validity, or prior art. It is an excerpt, with text noted as omitted; the third claim appears truncated in the supplied source.
Generated 10/1/2026, 10:00:57 PM
Cases on file (0)
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Litigation summary
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Proceedings on file (0)
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No PTAB proceedings on file. This patent has not been challenged via IPR, PGR, or CBM. The absence is itself a signal — well-asserted patents eventually attract IPRs. The LLM analysis below may surface filings the ODP feed hasn’t indexed yet.
PTAB challenges
AIA trial proceedings at the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board — IPR, PGR, and CBM. Petitioners, judge panels, claim-level invalidation outcomes from Final Written Decisions, and Federal Circuit appeals. The single most important defensive datapoint after litigation history.
Assignment history
Inventors, original assignee, and the chain of ownership recorded with the USPTO — including the correspondent attorney who recorded each assignment, since shell-LLC chains often share one repeat-player attorney even when the entity names look unrelated. Surfaces NPE / patent-troll patterns: shell-entity transfers, known asserters in the chain, repeat correspondent fingerprints, pre-litigation assignments, and bankruptcy fire-sales.
Prior art
Earlier patents, publications, and products that may anticipate or render the claims unpatentable.
Obviousness
Combinations of prior art that suggest the claimed invention would have been obvious under 35 U.S.C. § 103.
Extensions
Patent term adjustments, term extensions, continuations, divisionals, family members, and expiration dates.
Derivative works
Defensive disclosure: derivative variations of each claim designed to render future incremental improvements obvious or non-novel.