Assignment history

Inventors

• David Wyatt (Virtual Electric Inc at the time of earliest priority filing date 2013-03-15, per Google Patents)

Original assignee

The original assignee, Virtual Electric Inc, does not appear to have shipped a product embodying the claims. Their primary line of business, based on patent filings, appears to be related to electronic payment devices. Their current status is unclear from the provided patent data.

Assignment timeline

• 2022-02-04 (executed) / recorded 2022-02-04 — Reel 059905/0426
  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: David Wyatt
  • Assignee: CARDWARE, INC
  • Correspondent: RYAN K. FRIEDEN, VIRTUAL ELECTRIC INC, 3051 OLEANDER DRIVE, SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, 92106. This correspondent also appears on other patent recordings.
  • Context: Transfer-to-asserter (from inventor to an entity that subsequently has litigation listed on Google Patents).
• 2022-12-08 (executed) / recorded 2022-12-08 — Reel 060935/0501
  • Conveyance: Merger
  • Assignor: CARDWARE, INC
  • Assignee: CARDWARE, INC.
  • Correspondent: JEREMY D. MARR, MARR LAW FIRM, PLLC, 230 S. 5TH AVENUE, BRIGHTON, CO 80601.
  • Context: Internal reorg (merger of Cardware Inc into Cardware, Inc.).

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 10628820
    2013 : Priority date
    2018 : Application filed by Virtual Electric Inc
    2020 : Issued
    2022 : Assigned to CARDWARE, INC
         : CARDWARE, INC merged into CARDWARE, INC.

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — present. The assignment from David Wyatt to CARDWARE, INC. on 2022-02-04 (Reel 059905/0426) transfers the patent to an entity whose name ("CARDWARE, INC.") suggests a focus on the technology or related IP. Subsequent litigation associated with this patent family on Google Patents further supports that it acts as a licensing/assertion entity.
2. Known asserter in the chain — unclear. While CARDWARE, INC. has initiated litigation related to this patent family, it is not explicitly listed on widely known public NPE lists such as those maintained by RPX Insurance or Unified Patents at the time of this analysis.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — present. RYAN K. FRIEDEN of VIRTUAL ELECTRIC INC is listed as the correspondent for the 2022-02-04 assignment (Reel 059905/0426). The provided information states that this correspondent also appears on "other patent recordings," indicating a recurrence.
4. Cascading transfers — not present. There are only two recorded assignments, one of which is a merger of entities with the same name, so no rapid consecutive transfers to different entities.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — present. The assignment to CARDWARE, INC. was recorded on 2022-02-04 (Reel 059905/0426). Google Patents lists a US case filed in Texas Eastern District Court (2:22-cv-00141) with a source date of 2022-04-06, which is within two months of the assignment. This proximity suggests the transfer was made in preparation for assertion.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. There is no indication of bankruptcy proceedings for Virtual Electric Inc or David Wyatt.
7. Privateering — unclear. While the patent has moved from an inventor to an asserting entity, there is no public information readily available to confirm if an operating company is involved in a privateering arrangement.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The chain does not terminate at a known defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence. This verdict is driven by the presence of a shell-entity transfer (Reel 059905/0426) and a clear pre-litigation transfer (Reel 059905/0426, preceding case 2:22-cv-00141 filed 2022-04-06 by approximately two months). Additionally, the recurrence of the correspondent RYAN K. FRIEDEN suggests a pattern.

USPTO Assignment Center search for US10628820: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/#!/patent/10628820