Assignment history

Inventors

• Patrick Soon-Shiong: At the time of filing, Dr. Soon-Shiong was the founder, Chairman, and CEO of NantWorks, a network of healthcare, technology, and biotechnology companies. The assignee, Nant Holdings IP, LLC, is the intellectual property arm of this ecosystem. This represents a standard assignment from an inventor to their own operating company. There are no unusual patterns.

Original assignee

• Nant Holdings IP, LLC: This entity is the intellectual property holding company for NantWorks, the conglomerate founded by the inventor, Patrick Soon-Shiong. NantWorks is an active operating company with numerous products and services in the healthcare, artificial intelligence, and technology sectors. The company's business is developing and commercializing technology, and it appears to have developed products that could embody the claims. The company is currently operating.

Assignment timeline

A search of the USPTO Patent Assignment Center for US 10,614,477 reveals two recorded assignments.

• 2019-05-23 (executed) / recorded 2019-05-24 — Reel 049282/0653

  • Conveyance: Assignment of Assignor's Interest
  • Assignor: Soon-Shiong, Patrick
  • Assignee: Nant Holdings IP, LLC
  • Correspondent: Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear LLP, Irvine, CA
  • Context: Standard initial assignment from the sole inventor to his own IP holding company at the time of filing the application.

• 2021-03-08 (executed) / recorded 2021-03-10 — Reel 055106/0001

  • Conveyance: Corrective Assignment
  • Assignor: Soon-Shiong, Patrick
  • Assignee: Nant Holdings IP, LLC
  • Correspondent: Knobbe, Martens, Olson & Bear, LLP, Irvine, CA. This is the same correspondent as the initial assignment.
  • Context: Clerical correction only; this assignment corrected an error in a provisional application number cited in the original assignment at Reel 049282/0653 and did not change ownership.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 10614477
    2011 : Earliest priority date
    2019 : Assigned to Nant Holdings IP LLC
    2020 : Patent issued
         : First infringement suit filed
    2021 : Corrective assignment recorded

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer: Not present. The patent was assigned from the inventor to the IP holding company of a large, well-known operating enterprise (NantWorks). There have been no subsequent transfers to any third-party licensing entities.

2. Known asserter in the chain: Not present. While NantWorks does engage in patent litigation to enforce its IP, it is an operating company and is not classified as a non-practicing entity on public NPE lists maintained by groups like RPX or Unified Patents.

3. Repeat correspondent across the chain: Not present. The law firm Knobbe Martens appears on both recorded assignments (Reel 049282/0653 and 055106/0001). However, since the second entry was merely a correction of the first and the client (Nant Holdings IP, LLC) remained the same, this is standard legal practice and not an NPE signal.

4. Cascading transfers: Not present. There have been no transfers of ownership since the initial assignment from the inventor to his company.

5. Pre-litigation transfer: Not present. The assignment from the inventor to Nant Holdings IP, LLC occurred in May 2019, at the time the application was filed. The first known litigation was filed over a year later in 2020. This was not a transfer to a third-party assertion entity immediately prior to a lawsuit.

6. Bankruptcy fire-sale: Not present.

7. Privateering: Not present. The patent is being asserted by its originator, not by a third-party NPE on its behalf.

8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE): Not present. The patent is held by an operating company, not a defensive organization.

Verdict

• Operating-company assertion

This verdict is based on the clear ownership chain from the inventor, Patrick Soon-Shiong, directly to Nant Holdings IP, LLC, the intellectual property arm of his operating enterprise, NantWorks. The assignment record shows no transfers to any third-party entities. The subsequent litigation involving this patent was initiated by NantWorks, an operating company with commercial products, against a direct competitor, which is characteristic of enforcement by a practicing entity rather than an NPE.

Verification Link: USPTO Assignment Search for US 10,614,477