Assignment history

Inventors

• Mark J. Sarder
• Leigh Jenison
• Ian Schmit

All three inventors assigned their interest to Champion Engine Technology, LLC, suggesting they were employed by or contracted with Champion at the time of invention. There are no public records indicating an unusual departure pattern from the assignee.

Original assignee

The original assignee, per the first recorded assignment, was Champion Engine Technology, LLC. This entity appears to be a subsidiary or holding company for the ultimate parent, Champion Power Equipment, Inc., which is named as the current assignee on the face of the issued patent.

Champion Power Equipment, Inc. is a major manufacturer and seller of portable generators, including dual-fuel models that would embody the claims of this patent. The company is an active operating entity.

Assignment timeline

• 2013-10-31 (executed) / recorded 2016-02-04 — Reel 037661/0419

  • Conveyance: Assignment of Assignors Interest
  • Assignor: Mark J. Sarder, Leigh Jenison, Ian Schmit
  • Assignee: Champion Engine Technology, LLC
  • Correspondent: STOEL RIVES LLP, 201 S MAIN ST, STE 1100, SALT LAKE CITY, UT, 84111
  • Context: Standard assignment of invention from inventors to their employer.

• 2018-11-27 (executed) / recorded 2018-11-29 — Reel 047681/0698

  • Conveyance: Assignment of Assignors Interest
  • Assignor: Champion Engine Technology, LLC
  • Assignee: Champion Power Equipment, Inc.
  • Correspondent: STOEL RIVES LLP, 201 S MAIN ST, STE 1100, SALT LAKE CITY, UT, 84111. This is the same correspondent as the prior assignment.
  • Context: Internal reorganization, transferring the patent from a subsidiary to the parent operating company.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 10598101
    2013 : Inventors assign rights to Champion LLC
    2016 : Application filed
         : Assignment from inventors recorded
    2018 : Assigned to Champion Power Equipment Inc
    2020 : Patent Issued
    2023 : First infringement suits filed by Champion

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — Not present. The assignment chain shows transfers between related corporate entities (Champion Engine Technology, LLC to Champion Power Equipment, Inc.). The final assignee is an operating company that manufactures and sells products, not a licensing-only shell.

2. Known asserter in the chain — Not present. Neither Champion entity appears on public lists of high-frequency NPEs.

3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Present, but not an NPE signal. STOEL RIVES LLP is the correspondent of record for both assignments (Reel 037661/0419 and 047681/0698). This is typical for an operating company using the same outside counsel for its patent matters and indicates routine corporate housekeeping, not an NPE pattern.

4. Cascading transfers — Not present. The two recorded transfers are separated by several years and represent a clear internal reorganization, not a rapid chain of transfers to obscure ownership.

5. Pre-litigation transfer — Not present. The last assignment was recorded in November 2018. Litigation involving the patent was first filed in late 2023, nearly five years later.

6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. There is no evidence that any assignee has been involved in bankruptcy proceedings.

7. Privateering — Not present. The patent is held and asserted directly by the operating company, not a third-party NPE.

8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The chain does not involve any known defensive aggregators.

Verdict

Operating-company assertion

The patent was developed by inventors associated with Champion Power Equipment and has remained within its corporate structure since the initial application, as documented on USPTO assignment reels 037661/0419 and 047681/0698. The current assignee, Champion Power Equipment, Inc., is a well-known manufacturer of dual-fuel generators that embody the patent's claims. Recent litigation is therefore a straightforward case of an operating company asserting its intellectual property against competitors in the market.

Verification source: USPTO Patent Assignment Search