Assignment history

Inventors

The sole named inventor is G. R. Mohan Rao. While the patent text does not explicitly state his employer at the time of filing, search results indicate that G. R. Mohan Rao is a founder and director of GREENTHREAD LLC, the original assignee. This suggests a close association with GREENTHREAD LLC at the time of filing, or that the patent rights were assigned to the entity early in the process.

Original assignee

The entity named on the issued patent as the original assignee is GREENTHREAD LLC.

• Shipped a product embodying the claims: No. GREENTHREAD LLC does not appear to ship products embodying the claims of US10734481. Publicly available information, including litigation records, indicates that Greenthread LLC asserts patents related to semiconductor devices with graded dopant regions against operating companies like ON Semiconductor, Dell, and Intel. Other entities named "Greenthread" engaged in IT services or seed sales are distinct and unrelated to this patent.
• Primary line of business: Patent assertion and monetization, specifically in the semiconductor industry.
• Current status: Operating as a patent assertion entity. Litigation records show active cases involving Greenthread LLC as recently as 2023-2024, demonstrating its continued operation in patent assertion.

Assignment timeline

• 2015-04-27 (executed) / recorded 2020-02-18 — Reel 051843/0078
  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: RAO, G.R. MOHAN
  • Assignee: GREENTHREAD, LLC, TEXAS
  • Correspondent: Not explicitly listed in the Google Patents record for this specific event. The record states "ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS)".
  • Context: Inventor transferred all rights to the invention to GREENTHREAD, LLC.

The USPTO Assignment Center search reveals no additional recorded assignments for US10734481 beyond the inventor-to-assignee transfer noted in the patent's legal events.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 10734481
    2015 : Inventor assigned to Greenthread LLC
    2019 : Filed by Greenthread LLC
    2020 : Issued to Greenthread LLC
         : Assignment recorded
    2022 : First infringement suit filed
    2026 : Appealed at CAFC

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — Present. The original assignee, GREENTHREAD LLC, was formed in Texas in October 2004, with the inventor G.R. Mohan Rao as one of its directors. Greenthread LLC does not produce products embodying the claims but asserts patents against operating companies, indicating its role as a licensing-only entity. The address is not directly provided in the patent text or the snippet for this specific assignment, so further verification of a registered-agent address would be needed for that specific aspect, but the business model strongly supports a shell entity.
2. Known asserter in the chain — Present. GREENTHREAD LLC is identified as a Texas plaintiff that asserts semiconductor patents. It has initiated numerous lawsuits against major technology companies like Intel, Dell, ON Semiconductor, and Samsung, as evidenced by the provided litigation details. These activities align with the behavior of a known patent asserter or NPE.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Unclear. The specific correspondent for the recorded assignment (Reel 051843/0078) is not explicitly listed in the provided patent text. Therefore, it is not possible to determine if a repeat correspondent pattern exists within this chain or across other patents.
4. Cascading transfers — Not present. Only one assignment from the inventor to the initial assignee (GREENTHREAD LLC) is recorded for this patent (Reel 051843/0078).
5. Pre-litigation transfer — Not present. The assignment from the inventor to GREENTHREAD, LLC was executed on 2015-04-27 and recorded on 2020-02-18 (Reel 051843/0078). The patent was issued on 2020-08-04. The first identified infringement suit involving this patent family (though not explicitly US10734481 in the early stages of that specific suit) by Greenthread began in April 2019 against Samsung, with a case against Dell and Intel in January 2022. While the filing date of the application for US10734481 is 2019-12-17, the earliest priority date for the family is 2004-09-03, and the inventor assignment precedes the earliest identified litigation by several years (effective 2015-04-27). The assignment was recorded after the initial litigation started, but the effective date predates it significantly. Thus, the transfer itself was not pre-litigation in the sense of being within 6 months of the first suit, though its recording post-dates early suits.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. There is no indication that the patent was acquired through a bankruptcy proceeding.
7. Privateering — Unclear. While Greenthread LLC is funded by investment managers, there is no explicit information in the provided text or search results to suggest an operating company transferred the patent to Greenthread LLC to assert on its behalf against competitors. The patent originates from the sole inventor.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The patent is currently held and asserted by GREENTHREAD LLC, which is a patent assertion entity, not a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence. The evidence strongly indicates that GREENTHREAD LLC operates as a non-practicing entity. Key signals include the absence of products embodying the patent claims, the explicit identification of GREENTHREAD LLC as a "Texas plaintiff" asserting patents, and its involvement in extensive litigation against major technology companies. The patent's ownership originates from the inventor and was subsequently assigned to this assertion entity (Reel 051843/0078), which then actively engages in litigation.

USPTO Assignment Center search: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/ (Search for patent number 10734481).