Assignment history

Inventors

• James Metropoulos. Employer: Blue Box Air LLC (implied as the original assignee at the time of filing).

Original assignee

Blue Box Air LLC is the original assignee and, according to the patent's description, appears to ship a product embodying the claims (a foam generating system for HVAC cleaning). The patent itself describes the innovation as a "scalable solution that is easy to apply and adopt" and references a "coil-cleaning demonstration video." Their primary line of business is providing methods and systems for cleaning HVAC systems. Its current status is active, with the patent expiring on 2036-12-19.

Assignment timeline

• 2016-09-29 (executed) / recorded 2016-09-29 — Reel 039899/0465
  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: METROPOULOS, James
  • Assignee: BLUE BOX AIR, LLC, NEVADA
  • Correspondent: Not explicitly stated in provided Google Patents data.
  • Context: Original assignment from inventor to the founding company.
• 2023-06-29 (executed) / recorded 2023-11-06 — Reel 065472/0229
  • Conveyance: Security Interest
  • Assignor: BLUE BOX AIR L.L.C.
  • Assignee: HERITAGE BANK OF COMMERCE, CALIFORNIA
  • Correspondent: Not explicitly stated in provided Google Patents data.
  • Context: Security interest granted to a bank, likely as collateral for financing.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 10480875
    2016 : Filed and assigned to Blue Box Air LLC
    2019 : Issued
    2023 : Security interest to Heritage Bank of Commerce

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — Not present. The patent remains with the original operating company, Blue Box Air LLC, with a security interest granted to a commercial bank. The "Security Interest" conveyance to Heritage Bank of Commerce does not indicate a shell entity transfer.
2. Known asserter in the chain — Not present. Neither Blue Box Air LLC nor Heritage Bank of Commerce are identified as known patent assertion entities (NPEs).
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Unclear. The correspondent information for the assignments is not explicitly provided in the Google Patents legal events section.
4. Cascading transfers — Not present. There are only two recorded events in the chain over a seven-year period, which does not indicate cascading transfers.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — Not present. The security interest was recorded on 2023-11-06 (executed 2023-06-29). The litigation noted in Google Patents ("US case filed in Texas Northern District Court litigation Critical https://portal.unifiedpatents.com/litigation/Texas%20Northern%20District%20Court/case/4%3A26-cv-00498") has a case number 4:26-cv-00498, indicating a filing year of 2026. This date is well beyond the 6-month window prior to the assignment.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. There is no indication of Blue Box Air LLC filing for bankruptcy.
7. Privateering — Unclear. There is no information provided to suggest privateering.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The chain does not terminate with a known defensive aggregator.

Verdict

Operating-company assertion

The assignment history shows the patent originating from the inventor to Blue Box Air LLC, which appears to be an operating company based on the patent's description of a cleaning system. The only subsequent legal event is a security interest granted to Heritage Bank of Commerce, which is typical for an operating business financing its operations. There are no signals indicative of NPE activity.

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