Assignment history

Inventors

• David Wyatt (Virtual Electric Inc)

Original assignee

Virtual Electric Inc. There is no information readily available to determine if Virtual Electric Inc. shipped a product embodying the claims. Their primary line of business is not explicitly stated in the patent, but based on the patent's content, it involves electronic or smart credit card devices. Their current status is "Active" according to Google Patents.

Assignment timeline

• 2022-02-04 (executed) / recorded 2022-02-04 — Reel 059952/989

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: WYATT, DAVID
  • Assignee: CARDWARE, INC
  • Correspondent: Ramin Mobarghani, Mobarghani & Gozdzik PLLC, 1600 West 38th Street, Suite 100, Austin, TX, 78731. This correspondent recurs frequently in patent assignment records for CardWare Inc. and other related entities.
  • Context: Transfer from inventor to a new entity.

• 2022-12-08 (executed) / recorded 2022-12-08 — Reel 061036/447

  • Conveyance: Merger
  • Assignor: CARDWARE, INC.
  • Assignee: CARDWARE, INC.
  • Correspondent: Ramin Mobarghani, Mobarghani & Gozdzik PLLC, 1600 West 38th Street, Suite 100, Austin, TX, 78731. This correspondent recurs frequently in patent assignment records for CardWare Inc. and other related entities.
  • Context: Internal reorg/merger of CardWare, Inc.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 10339520
    2013 : Priority date
    2017 : Application filed by Virtual Electric Inc
    2019 : Patent granted
    2022 : Assigned from inventor to CardWare Inc
         : CardWare Inc internal merger

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — present. The assignment from the inventor David Wyatt to CardWare Inc. (Reel 059952/989) is suggestive of a shell entity given that CardWare Inc. does not appear to have a significant public profile as an operating company producing products, and it is a common practice for NPEs to acquire patents directly from inventors or small entities. The subsequent merger (Reel 061036/447) within "CardWare, INC." itself, while not definitive, can also be a characteristic of internal restructuring within a licensing entity.
2. Known asserter in the chain — unclear. CardWare Inc. is the current assignee. While CardWare Inc. has been involved in patent litigation, they are not on the widely recognized public NPE lists from RPX or Unified Patents in the same vein as an Intellectual Ventures or Marathon Patent Group, though Unified Patents has filed PTAB cases against this patent family.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — present. Ramin Mobarghani of Mobarghani & Gozdzik PLLC is the correspondent for both recorded assignments (Reel 059952/989, Reel 061036/447). The note in the assignment records explicitly states, "This correspondent recurs frequently in patent assignment records for CardWare Inc. and other related entities."
4. Cascading transfers — not present. There are only two assignments recorded within a year (2022) but they are not transfers to different chained LLCs; one is from the inventor and the other is an internal merger.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — unclear. While the patent family has litigation history according to Google Patents, the assignment to CardWare Inc. in February 2022 (Reel 059952/989) predates the first reported district court litigation case (Texas Eastern District Court case 2:22-cv-00141) filed in March 2022. This falls within the 6-month window, but without explicit information linking the transfer directly to the intent to litigate at the time of transfer, it remains unclear if it was specifically a pre-litigation transfer.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. No indication of bankruptcy for Virtual Electric Inc. or the inventor.
7. Privateering — unclear. No public information or SEC filings available to suggest a privateering arrangement.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The chain does not terminate at a known defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — moderate confidence. This verdict is driven by the presence of a shell-entity transfer (Reel 059952/989, 2022-02-04) where the inventor assigned to CardWare Inc., and the clear pattern of a repeat correspondent (Ramin Mobarghani) associated with CardWare Inc. and "other related entities" (Reel 059952/989, Reel 061036/447). Additionally, the proximity of the assignment to the initial litigation filing, though not definitively "pre-litigation transfer," adds to the overall signal.

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