Patent 10292138

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.

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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.

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Inventors

  • Timothy J. Speight (Employer at time of filing not determinable from patent text)

Original assignee

Intellectual Ventures II LLC. The patent text does not indicate that Intellectual Ventures II LLC ships a product embodying the claims; their primary line of business is patent acquisition and licensing. Their current status is operating.

Assignment timeline

  • 2018-07-03 (executed) / recorded 2018-07-03 — Reel 045339/0426

    • Conveyance: Assignment
    • Assignor: INTELLECTUAL VENTURES HOLDING 81 LLC
    • Assignee: INTELLECTUAL VENTURES II LLC
    • Correspondent: INTELLECTUAL VENTURES MANAGEMENT, LLC, 10737 GATEWAY BLVD, SUITE 210, CUPERTINO, CA 95014. This correspondent appears multiple times in this chain.
    • Context: Internal reorg

  • 2018-10-10 (executed) / recorded 2018-10-10 — Reel 045761/0819

    • Conveyance: Assignment
    • Assignor: IPWIRELESS, INC.
    • Assignee: INTELLECTUAL VENTURES HOLDING 81 LLC
    • Correspondent: BLANK ROME LLP, 1800 I STREET, N.W., WASHINGTON, DC 20006.
    • Context: Transfer to asserter

  • 2018-10-10 (executed) / recorded 2018-10-10 — Reel 045761/0822

    • Conveyance: Assignment
    • Assignor: IPWIRELESS, INC.
    • Assignee: NORTHROP GRUMMAN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, INC.
    • Correspondent: BLANK ROME LLP, 1800 I STREET, N.W., WASHINGTON, DC 20006. This correspondent appears multiple times in this chain.
    • Context: Transfer

  • 2018-10-10 (executed) / recorded 2018-10-10 — Reel 045761/0825

    • Conveyance: Assignment
    • Assignor: NORTHROP GRUMMAN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, INC.
    • Assignee: IPWIRELESS, INC.
    • Correspondent: BLANK ROME LLP, 1800 I STREET, N.W., WASHINGTON, DC 20006. This correspondent appears multiple times in this chain.
    • Context: Transfer

  • 2018-10-10 (executed) / recorded 2018-10-10 — Reel 045761/0828

    • Conveyance: Assignment
    • Assignor: INTELLECTUAL VENTURES HOLDING 81 LLC
    • Assignee: INTELLECTUAL VENTURES II LLC
    • Correspondent: BLANK ROME LLP, 1800 I STREET, N.W., WASHINGTON, DC 20006. This correspondent appears multiple times in this chain.
    • Context: Internal reorg

  • 2018-10-10 (executed) / recorded 2018-10-10 — Reel 045761/0831

    • Conveyance: Assignment
    • Assignor: SPEIGHT, TIMOTHY J.
    • Assignee: IPWIRELESS, INC.
    • Correspondent: BLANK ROME LLP, 1800 I STREET, N.W., WASHINGTON, DC 20006. This correspondent appears multiple times in this chain.
    • Context: Inventor assignment to original operating company

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 10292138
    2006 : Filed by Intellectual Ventures II LLC
    2018 : Assigned to Intellectual Ventures II LLC
         : Assigned to Intellectual Ventures Holding 81 LLC
         : Assigned to Northrop Grumman
         : Assigned to IPWireless
         : Assigned to Intellectual Ventures II LLC
         : Inventor assigned to IPWireless
    2019 : Issued

NPE / troll-pattern signals

  1. Shell-entity transfer — present. The patent has been assigned to Intellectual Ventures II LLC and Intellectual Ventures Holding 81 LLC. Both are known Intellectual Ventures entities, which operate as patent licensing and assertion companies, not product-shipping entities.
  2. Known asserter in the chain — present. Intellectual Ventures II LLC and Intellectual Ventures Holding 81 LLC are explicitly in the chain. Intellectual Ventures is a well-known NPE.
  3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — present. The correspondent "INTELLECTUAL VENTURES MANAGEMENT, LLC" appears on reel 045339/0426. The correspondent "BLANK ROME LLP" appears on reels 045761/0819, 045761/0822, 045761/0825, 045761/0828, and 045761/0831.
  4. Cascading transfers — present. There are multiple assignments within a short period (all on 2018-10-10) involving IPWIRELESS, INC., NORTHROP GRUMMAN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, INC., INTELLECTUAL VENTURES HOLDING 81 LLC, and INTELLECTUAL VENTURES II LLC, and sharing the same correspondent (BLANK ROME LLP). This pattern indicates a series of transfers, likely internal to Intellectual Ventures' portfolio management.
  5. Pre-litigation transfer — unclear. While there are multiple litigation cases associated with this patent family, the exact date of the first infringement suit directly naming US10292138 is not immediately available from the provided data to compare against the assignment dates. However, Google Patents shows multiple litigation events for the patent family, with the first worldwide family litigation filed prior to the 2018 assignments.
  6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. There is no indication in the provided information that any assignor in the chain filed for bankruptcy.
  7. Privateering — unclear. While Intellectual Ventures is known for privateering, the provided assignment records do not contain specific details (e.g., SEC filings or explicit agreements) to confirm privateering for this particular patent.
  8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The chain ends with Intellectual Ventures II LLC as the current assignee, which is an NPE, not a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence

The presence of Intellectual Ventures II LLC and Intellectual Ventures Holding 81 LLC in the assignment chain, along with the recurring correspondents (INTELLECTUAL VENTURES MANAGEMENT, LLC and BLANK ROME LLP) on multiple transfers within a short period (2018-07-03 and 2018-10-10), strongly indicates an NPE assertion pattern. The cascading transfers further support the conclusion that the patent is part of an NPE's portfolio management.

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

Generated 5/29/2026, 8:59:20 PM