Patent 10549648

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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Ownership chain (4)

Asserters network →

Structured records extracted from the assignment-history narrative below. Each entity links to its full ownership-network profile.

  1. 2019-09-11 · reel 005234/0674 · Assignment

    GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANYGENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY

    Correspondent: Matthew J. Greiner

    internal reorg

  2. 2025-02-20 · reel 063645/0961 · Assignment

    DOLBY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LICENSING, LLCEDISON INNOVATIONS, LLC

    transfer-to-asserter

  3. 2025-03-26 · reel 063777/0055 · Assignment

    GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANYGE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LICENSING, LLC

    Correspondent: John F. Thomson

    internal reorg

  4. 2025-03-26 · reel 063777/0056 · Change of Name

    GE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LICENSING, LLCDOLBY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LICENSING, LLC

    Correspondent: John F. Thomson

    change of name only

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.

✓ Generated

Inventors

  • Robert Dean King (General Electric Co)
  • Zhihao Li (General Electric Co)

Original assignee

General Electric Co. General Electric (GE) is a multinational conglomerate that designs, manufactures, and services products for various industries, including power, aviation, renewable energy, and healthcare. It is unclear from the patent text alone whether GE shipped a product specifically embodying the claims of US10549648. GE is an operating company.

Assignment timeline

  • 2019-09-11 (executed) / recorded 2019-09-11 – Reel 005234/0674

    • Conveyance: Assignment
    • Assignor: General Electric Company
    • Assignee: GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY
    • Correspondent: Matthew J. Greiner, GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, 901 E. MARSHALL WYATT ROAD, RICHMOND, VA 23294.
    • Context: Internal reorg (assignor and assignee are the same entity).

  • 2025-02-20 (executed) / recorded 2025-02-20 – Reel 063645/0961

    • Conveyance: Assignment
    • Assignor: DOLBY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LICENSING, LLC
    • Assignee: EDISON INNOVATIONS, LLC
    • Correspondent: N/A
    • Context: Transfer to asserter.

  • 2025-03-26 (executed) / recorded 2025-03-26 – Reel 063777/0055

    • Conveyance: Assignment
    • Assignor: GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY
    • Assignee: GE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LICENSING, LLC
    • Correspondent: John F. Thomson, GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, GLOBAL PATENT OPERATION, 1 RESEARCH CIRCLE, NISKAYUNA, NEW YORK 12309.
    • Context: Internal reorg (transfer to an intellectual property licensing subsidiary).

  • 2025-03-26 (executed) / recorded 2025-03-26 – Reel 063777/0056

    • Conveyance: Change of Name
    • Assignor: GE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LICENSING, LLC
    • Assignee: DOLBY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LICENSING, LLC
    • Correspondent: John F. Thomson, GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, GLOBAL PATENT OPERATION, 1 RESEARCH CIRCLE, NISKAYUNA, NEW YORK 12309. This correspondent also appeared on reel 063777/0055.
    • Context: Change of name.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 10549648
    2019 : Filed by General Electric Co
         : Internal reorg GE Co to GE Co
    2020 : Issued
    2025 : Transfer to Edison Innovations
         : Internal reorg GE Co to GE IP Licensing
         : Change of Name GE IP Licensing to Dolby IP Licensing

NPE / troll-pattern signals

  1. Shell-entity transfer – present. The transfer to Edison Innovations LLC (Reel 063645/0961) and Dolby Intellectual Property Licensing, LLC (Reel 063777/0056) are strong indicators. "IP Licensing" and "Innovations LLC" in the names often suggest a licensing-focused entity rather than a product-producing one.
  2. Known asserter in the chain – present. Edison Innovations LLC is identified as the current assignee. A quick search of Unified Patents' public database confirms Edison Innovations LLC as an NPE.
  3. Repeat correspondent across the chain – present. John F. Thomson of GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, GLOBAL PATENT OPERATION, 1 RESEARCH CIRCLE, NISKAYUNA, NEW YORK 12309, appears as the correspondent for both Reel 063777/0055 and Reel 063777/0056. This indicates consistency in the legal representation for GE's internal IP transfers and name changes.
  4. Cascading transfers – present. There are three assignments/name changes occurring within a short period in 2025 (February 20, 2025 and March 26, 2025), specifically involving the GE entities and the subsequent transfer to Edison Innovations.
  5. Pre-litigation transfer – unclear. While the transfer to Edison Innovations LLC occurred in 2025, and there is a PTAB case IPR2026-00250 and a US case filed in the Texas Eastern District Court (case 2:25-cv-01133) mentioned as pending litigation on Google Patents, the exact filing dates of the lawsuits are not provided with enough specificity to confirm if the assignment was within 6 months before the first suit.
  6. Bankruptcy fire-sale – not present. There is no indication that General Electric Co. or any other assignor in the chain filed for bankruptcy.
  7. Privateering – unclear. While GE transferred the patent to entities that appear to be licensing-focused, there is no public information in the patent record or Google Patents legal events to confirm if this is a privateering arrangement where an operating company transfers to an NPE that asserts on the operating company's behalf against competitors.
  8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) – not present. The chain does not terminate at any known defensive aggregators like RPX, AST, or LOT Network.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence. The presence of a known NPE (Edison Innovations LLC) as the current assignee, coupled with transfers to entities with names suggesting a licensing focus (Edison Innovations LLC, Dolby Intellectual Property Licensing, LLC), and cascading transfers in a short timeframe, strongly indicates an NPE assertion pattern.
Verification: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/

Generated 5/28/2026, 6:48:52 PM