Assignment history

Inventors

• Joshua Johnson: Employer likely Gaea LLC or an entity from which Gaea LLC acquired rights, given the assignment date predates the application filing.
• Curt Bruner: Employer likely Gaea LLC or an entity from which Gaea LLC acquired rights.
• Jeffrey Reh: Employer likely Gaea LLC or an entity from which Gaea LLC acquired rights.
• Christopher Squires: Employer likely Gaea LLC or an entity from which Gaea LLC acquired rights.
• Brian Wilson: Employer likely Gaea LLC or an entity from which Gaea LLC acquired rights.

The assignments of interest from all named inventors to Gaea LLC were executed on November 7, 2016, preceding the patent application's filing date of November 6, 2017. This pattern is common and indicates that the rights to the invention were assigned to Gaea LLC either as a condition of employment or through a separate agreement prior to the patent application being filed. There is no unusual pattern of inventors departing the original assignee within 12 months of filing.

Original assignee

The original assignee named on the issued patent is Gaea LLC.

Based on the provided information, Gaea LLC is actively asserting this patent in litigation against multiple large technology companies (Meta Platforms, Inc., [[Samsung Electronics Co.](/litigations/by-defendant/Samsung%20Electronics%20Co.), Ltd.](/litigations/by-plaintiff/Samsung%20Electronics%20Co.%2C%20Ltd.), Pure Storage, Inc., Oracle Corporation, NetApp, Inc., Dell Technologies Inc., Dell Inc., EMC Corporation, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company). This pattern, coupled with the lack of any information indicating Gaea LLC manufactures or sells products embodying the claims of the patent, strongly suggests that Gaea LLC operates as a Non-Practicing Entity (NPE) or patent assertion entity. Their primary line of business appears to be patent licensing and assertion.

Current status: Gaea LLC is currently operating as a plaintiff in patent infringement litigation.

Assignment timeline

The following assignments are recorded for U.S. Patent No. 10,776,023:

1. 2016-11-07 (executed) / recorded 2017-01-05 — Reel 042079/0179

   • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT
   • Assignor: JOSHUA A JOHNSON, CURT BRUNER, JEFFREY REH, CHRISTOPHER SQUIRES, BRIAN WILSON
   • Assignee: GAEA LLC
   • Correspondent: RYAN M. KAISER, THE LAW OFFICE OF RYAN M. KAISER, PLLC, 701 FIFTH AVE SUITE 4200, SEATTLE WA 98104. This correspondent recurs in this chain.
   • Context: Original assignment of invention rights from all listed inventors to Gaea LLC, prior to the patent application filing.

2. 2018-04-04 (executed) / recorded 2018-05-02 — Reel 044733/0861

   • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT
   • Assignor: JEFFREY REH, CHRISTOPHER SQUIRES, BRIAN WILSON, JOSHUA JOHNSON, CURT BRUNER
   • Assignee: GAEA LLC
   • Correspondent: RYAN M. KAISER, THE LAW OFFICE OF RYAN M. KAISER, PLLC, 701 FIFTH AVE SUITE 4200, SEATTLE WA 98104. This correspondent recurs in this chain.
   • Context: Confirmatory assignment of invention rights from all listed inventors to Gaea LLC.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 10776023
    2016 : Inventors assign to Gaea LLC
    2017 : App filed by Gaea LLC
    2018 : Inventors confirm assignment
    2020 : Patent issued to Gaea LLC
    2023 : Litigation filed by Gaea LLC
    2026 : Further litigation by Gaea LLC

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — Present. The initial assignment is from the inventors to Gaea LLC (Reel 042079/0179), which is the plaintiff in numerous active patent infringement lawsuits without any indication of manufacturing or selling products. The generic name "Gaea LLC" is also consistent with a shell entity.
2. Known asserter in the chain — Present. Gaea LLC is identified as a plaintiff in multiple district court litigations concerning this patent, including cases against Meta Platforms, Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., as detailed in the provided litigation summary.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Present. Ryan M. Kaiser of The Law Office of Ryan M. Kaiser, PLLC, is listed as the correspondent for both recorded assignments (Reel 042079/0179 and Reel 044733/0861).
4. Cascading transfers — Not present. There are only two assignments, both directly from the inventors to Gaea LLC, which is the original assignee and the asserting entity. There are no multiple consecutive assignments through chained LLCs.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — Not present. Gaea LLC acquired the patent rights in 2016/2017, well before the first reported litigation filings in 2023.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. There is no information to suggest that the patent was acquired through bankruptcy proceedings.
7. Privateering — Unclear. While Gaea LLC appears to be an NPE, the provided information does not contain explicit evidence of an operating company transferring the patent to Gaea LLC for assertion against competitors on its behalf.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The patent is currently held and asserted by Gaea LLC, not a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence

Justification: Gaea LLC, the sole assignee since the invention's inception (per Reel 042079/0179 and Reel 044733/0861), is actively asserting this patent in numerous infringement lawsuits against major technology companies, with no indication of producing products. The recurrence of Ryan M. Kaiser as the correspondent for both assignments further supports the pattern of an entity focused on patent assertion.

Verification link: USPTO Patent Assignment Search for 10776023