Assignment history

Here is a detailed analysis of the ownership chain for US patent 10,355,863.

Inventors

The four inventors named on the patent are Fred Bishop, Danielle R. Domenica, Vicki R. Mendivil, and Hermes H. Villalobos. A confirmatory assignment recorded on February 14, 2018 (Reel 042654/0001) shows the inventors formally assigned their rights to their employer, American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. This indicates they were employees of American Express at the time of the invention. There are no unusual patterns, such as mass departures, associated with the inventors.

Original assignee

The original assignee of record was American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc., a major, publicly-traded financial services corporation. American Express provides credit cards, charge cards, and traveler's checks; it is a global operating company. While they did not ship a specific, standalone product called "System and method for authenticating electronic content," the claimed invention relates directly to securing online transactions and communications, a core part of their business of providing secure financial services to consumers and merchants over the internet. American Express remains a major operating company today.

Assignment timeline

The USPTO database shows a clear and rapid transfer from the original operating company to a series of intermediary holding companies and ultimately to known patent-assertion entities.

• 2017-12-04 (executed) / recorded 2017-12-08 — Reel 042296/0793

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: AMERICAN EXPRESS TRAVEL RELATED SERVICES COMPANY, INC.
  • Assignee: WAYVERLY PROPERTIES FUND, LLC
  • Correspondent: ERIK S. MAURER, BANNER & WITCOFF, LTD., WASHINGTON, DC 20005. This correspondent is a recurring agent in this chain.
  • Context: The patent is sold by its original operating-company owner to an IP holding entity.

• 2017-12-07 (executed) / recorded 2017-12-08 — Reel 042296/0805

  • Conveyance: Change of Name
  • Assignor: WAYVERLY PROPERTIES FUND, LLC
  • Assignee: INTELLECTUAL VENTURES FINVENTION LLC
  • Correspondent: ERIK S. MAURER, BANNER & WITCOFF, LTD., WASHINGTON, DC 20005. This is the same recurring correspondent.
  • Context: A change of name, indicating the assignee is part of the well-known NPE, Intellectual Ventures.

• 2017-12-07 (executed) / recorded 2017-12-08 — Reel 042296/0820

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: INTELLECTUAL VENTURES FINVENTION LLC
  • Assignee: ZAMALCHI RESEARCH L.L.C.
  • Correspondent: ERIK S. MAURER, BANNER & WITCOFF, LTD., WASHINGTON, DC 20005. This is the same recurring correspondent.
  • Context: The patent is moved from a known NPE fund to another intermediary LLC as part of a multi-step transfer.

• 2017-12-07 (executed) / recorded 2017-12-08 — Reel 042296/0829

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: ZAMALCHI RESEARCH L.L.C.
  • Assignee: SECURE AXCESS LLC
  • Correspondent: ERIK S. MAURER, BANNER & WITCOFF, LTD., WASHINGTON, DC 20005. This is the same recurring correspondent.
  • Context: The patent is transferred to Secure Axcess LLC, a known patent assertion entity.

• 2022-11-10 (executed) / recorded 2022-11-14 — Reel 062085/0246

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: SECURE AXCESS, LLC
  • Assignee: AUTHENTIXX LLC
  • Correspondent: HENRY J. RASHAD, LAW OFFICE OF HENRY J. RASHAD, PLANO, TX 75024
  • Context: The patent is transferred to Authentixx LLC, the entity that would begin asserting the patent in litigation three months later.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 10355863
    2000 : Earliest priority application filed
    2017 : Assigned by AmEx to Wayverly Properties
         : Name change to Intellectual Ventures
         : Assigned to Zamalchi Research
         : Assigned to Secure Axcess LLC
    2019 : Patent Issued
    2020 : Patent Expired
    2022 : Assigned to Authentixx LLC
    2023 : First infringement suit filed by Authentixx

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — Present. The very first transfer (Reel 042296/0793) moves the patent from American Express, an operating company, to a series of LLCs (Wayverly, Zamalchi, Secure Axcess, Authentixx) that do not appear to have products and are structured as intellectual property holding/assertion vehicles.

2. Known asserter in the chain — Present. The chain includes multiple entities identified as NPEs by industry trackers. "INTELLECTUAL VENTURES FINVENTION LLC" (Reel 042296/0805) is part of Intellectual Ventures, one of the original and largest NPEs. Both Secure Axcess LLC (Reel 042296/0829) and the current owner Authentixx LLC (Reel 062085/0246) are documented NPEs that have filed numerous infringement suits.

3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Present. The first four transfers, moving the patent from American Express into the hands of Secure Axcess LLC, were all handled by the same correspondent: ERIK S. MAURER of BANNER & WITCOFF, LTD. (Reels 042296/0793, 0805, 0820, and 0829). This recurrence across four different legal entities in transactions executed within days of each other strongly indicates a coordinated transfer through a network of related shell companies.

4. Cascading transfers — Present. The patent was transferred three times on the same execution date, December 7, 2017 (Intellectual Ventures → Zamalchi Research → Secure Axcess LLC), as shown in Reels 042296/0820 and 042296/0829. This rapid sequence of transfers through multiple LLCs handled by the same correspondent is a classic pattern for moving assets into an assertion vehicle while obscuring the ultimate ownership.

5. Pre-litigation transfer — Present. The final assignment to Authentixx LLC was executed on November 10, 2022 (Reel 062085/0246). Authentixx LLC began its litigation campaign asserting this patent in February 2023, just three months after acquiring it. This timing strongly suggests the transfer was made specifically to prepare for and enable the litigation campaign.

6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. American Express is a financially healthy operating company; this was not a sale out of bankruptcy.

7. Privateering — Unclear. While the patent was transferred from an operating company to an NPE, there is no public evidence to suggest that American Express is directing or profiting from the subsequent litigation against third parties.

8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The ownership chain does not include any known defensive aggregators. The patent is actively being asserted.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence

The ownership history of US 10,355,863 displays multiple, strong signals of NPE activity. The patent was moved from its original creator, American Express, through a rapid cascade of intermediary LLCs (Reels 042296/0805 through 042296/0829), including a fund associated with the well-known NPE Intellectual Ventures, all handled by a single recurring correspondent. The asset was then transferred to the current plaintiff, Authentixx LLC, just three months before it began a widespread litigation campaign (Reel 062085/0246), fitting a classic pre-litigation transfer pattern.

Verification Link: USPTO Patent Assignment Search for US 10,355,863