Assignment history

Inventors

• Je Chang Jeong: Employer at time of filing not determinable from the provided text.
• Ki Baek Kim: Employer at time of filing not determinable from the provided text.
• Dong Jin Jung: Employer at time of filing not determinable from the provided text.

No unusual patterns of inventors departing the original assignee within 12 months of filing are determinable from the provided text.

Original assignee

The original assignee, as listed on Google Patents, is Intellectual Discovery Co Ltd. Their primary line of business and whether they shipped a product embodying the claims is not determinable from the provided text. Their current status is also not determinable from the provided text.

Assignment timeline

• 2018-04-02 (executed) / recorded 2018-04-02 — Reel 045055/0675

  • Conveyance: Assignment of Assignors Interest
  • Assignor: JEONG, JE CHANG; JUNG, DONG JIN; KIM, KI BAEK
  • Assignee: INDUSTRY-UNIVERSITY COOPERATION FOUNDATION HANYANG UNIVERSITY
  • Correspondent: Not specified in the provided text.
  • Context: Transfer from inventors to a university foundation.

• 2018-04-03 (executed) / recorded 2018-04-03 — Reel 045055/0677

  • Conveyance: Assignment of Assignors Interest
  • Assignor: INDUSTRY-UNIVERSITY COOPERATION FOUNDATION HANYANG UNIVERSITY
  • Assignee: INTELLECTUAL DISCOVERY CO., LTD.
  • Correspondent: Not specified in the provided text.
  • Context: Transfer from a university foundation to Intellectual Discovery Co., Ltd.

• 2020-09-14 (executed) / recorded 2020-09-14 — Reel 053072/0644

  • Conveyance: Assignment of Assignors Interest
  • Assignor: INTELLECTUAL DISCOVERY CO., LTD.
  • Assignee: DOLBY LABORATORIES LICENSING CORPORATION
  • Correspondent: STERNE, KESSLER, GOLDSTEIN & FOX P.L.L.C., WASHINGTON DC. This correspondent recurs in this chain.
  • Context: Transfer from Intellectual Discovery Co., Ltd. to Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corp.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 10237577
    2016 : Application filed by Intellectual Discovery Co Ltd
    2018 : Inventors assign to Hanyang University
         : Hanyang University assigns to Intellectual Discovery Co Ltd
    2019 : Patent published and granted
    2020 : Intellectual Discovery assigns to Dolby

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — unclear. While Intellectual Discovery Co Ltd. and Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation are listed, the provided text does not offer enough information about their primary lines of business or product shipping to definitively determine if they function as licensing-only shell entities.
2. Known asserter in the chain — unclear. The provided text does not contain enough information to cross-reference with public NPE lists for Intellectual Discovery Co Ltd. or Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation. However, Google Patents indicates "Family has litigation" and "PTAB case IPR2021-00275 filed (Final Written Decision)" and "US case filed in Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit".
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — present. STERNE, KESSLER, GOLDSTEIN & FOX P.L.L.C. appears as the correspondent on the assignment from INTELLECTUAL DISCOVERY CO., LTD. to DOLBY LABORATORIES LICENSING CORPORATION (2020-09-14 / recorded 2020-09-14 — Reel 053072/0644).
4. Cascading transfers — not present. While there are two assignments close together in 2018, these appear to be from the inventors to a university foundation and then to Intellectual Discovery Co., Ltd., which doesn't fit the pattern of multiple consecutive assignments through chained LLCs.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — unclear. The provided text mentions litigation, but does not provide the date of the first infringement suit to compare with the assignment dates.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. No indication of bankruptcy proceedings for any assignor in the provided text.
7. Privateering — unclear. The provided text does not contain information about SEC filings or other coverage that would indicate privateering.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The chain ends with Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation, which is not listed as a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — moderate confidence

The presence of litigation associated with the patent combined with the fact that the patent is currently assigned to a "Licensing Corporation" suggests a potential NPE pattern. However, without more definitive information about the product lines of Intellectual Discovery Co Ltd and Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation, or details about the nature of the litigation, a high confidence determination is not possible.

USPTO Assignment Center search for US10237577: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/