Assignment history

Inventors

• Satoru Sakazume: Employed by JVCKenwood Corp at the time of the original filing (priority date 2008-05-30), which is also the original assignee. No unusual departure patterns are indicated.

Original assignee

The original assignee named on the issued patent is JVCKenwood Corp. JVCKenwood is a Japanese multinational electronics company that manufactures a wide range of products including car electronics, professional communication systems, and video equipment. It is highly probable that they shipped products embodying the claims related to moving picture encoding and decoding systems. JVCKenwood Corp is currently an operating company.

Assignment timeline

• 2015-05-08 (executed) / recorded 2015-05-27 — Reel 033789/0222

  • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
  • Assignor: SAKAZUME, SATORU
  • Assignee: JVC KENWOOD CORPORATION
  • Correspondent: KENWOOD USA CORPORATION ATTN: IP DEPARTMENT, 2201 E. CARSON ST., LONG BEACH, CA 90810.
  • Context: Internal transfer from inventor to corporate assignee.

• 2022-03-24 (executed) / recorded 2022-04-14 — Reel 052445/0569

  • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
  • Assignor: JVCKENWOOD CORPORATION
  • Assignee: ADVANCED CODING TECHNOLOGIES LLC
  • Correspondent: JOHN M WYNNE, JOHN M. WYNNE, ATTORNEY AT LAW, 1000 W. 47TH STREET, SUITE 217, KANSAS CITY, MO 64112. This correspondent does not recur in this specific patent's assignment chain.
  • Context: Transfer from an operating company to a potential patent assertion entity.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 10218995
    2008 : Priority date
    2015 : Inventor to JVCKenwood Corp
    2019 : Patent issued
    2022 : JVCKenwood to Advanced Coding Tech LLC

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — present. The patent was transferred from JVCKenwood Corporation, an operating company, to Advanced Coding Technologies LLC. The assignee's name (ending in "LLC" and including "Technologies") is indicative of a licensing-only entity, and Advanced Coding Technologies LLC is listed as an asserter by Unified Patents. (Reel 052445/0569, executed 2022-03-24 / recorded 2022-04-14)

2. Known asserter in the chain — present. Advanced Coding Technologies LLC is identified by Unified Patents as a patent assertion entity (NPE). (Reel 052445/0569, executed 2022-03-24 / recorded 2022-04-14)

3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — present. John M. Wynne, JOHN M. WYNNE, ATTORNEY AT LAW, served as the correspondent for the transfer to Advanced Coding Technologies LLC. Although he does not recur within this patent's specific assignment chain, public records and NPE databases associate him with numerous patent assertion entities, indicating a pattern of representing such entities. (Reel 052445/0569, correspondent John M. Wynne, JOHN M. WYNNE, ATTORNEY AT LAW)

4. Cascading transfers — not present. There are only two distinct assignments (excluding the inventor assignment to the original assignee), not multiple consecutive transfers through chained LLCs.

5. Pre-litigation transfer — present. The assignment from JVCKenwood Corporation to Advanced Coding Technologies LLC was executed on 2022-03-24 and recorded on 2022-04-14 (Reel 052445/0569). Google Patents indicates that litigation (case 2:22-cv-00501 in the Texas Eastern District Court) involving this patent was filed in 2022, which is concurrent with or immediately following the patent transfer, suggesting the transfer was arranged to enable assertion.

6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. The assignor, JVCKenwood Corporation, is an active operating company and no bankruptcy proceedings were indicated.

7. Privateering — unclear. While the patent moved from an operating company to an NPE, there is no publicly available information in the provided sources to confirm that Advanced Coding Technologies LLC is asserting this patent on behalf of JVCKenwood or its competitors.

8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The chain terminates with Advanced Coding Technologies LLC, an identified asserter, not a defensive aggregator like RPX or Unified Patents.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence
This verdict is supported by the transfer of the patent from an operating company (JVCKenwood Corp) to Advanced Coding Technologies LLC, which is a known patent assertion entity (Reel 052445/0569). Furthermore, this transfer occurred concurrently with or just prior to the first recorded litigation involving the patent in 2022, a strong indicator of an assertion-driven transfer (Reel 052445/0569).

Verification: USPTO Patent Assignment Search for US10218995