Patent 10788690

Assignment history

Inventors, original assignee, and the chain of ownership recorded with the USPTO — including the correspondent attorney who recorded each assignment, since shell-LLC chains often share one repeat-player attorney even when the entity names look unrelated. Surfaces NPE / patent-troll patterns: shell-entity transfers, known asserters in the chain, repeat correspondent fingerprints, pre-litigation assignments, and bankruptcy fire-sales.

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Assignment history

Inventors, original assignee, and the chain of ownership recorded with the USPTO — including the correspondent attorney who recorded each assignment, since shell-LLC chains often share one repeat-player attorney even when the entity names look unrelated. Surfaces NPE / patent-troll patterns: shell-entity transfers, known asserters in the chain, repeat correspondent fingerprints, pre-litigation assignments, and bankruptcy fire-sales.

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Inventors

Original assignee

The original assignee on the issued patent is Applied Optoelectronics Inc. (AOI). AOI is a leading provider of fiber-optic access network products, primarily for cable television (CATV) broadband, Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH), and Internet Data Center (IDC) markets. They ship products embodying the claims, as the patent relates to optical isolator arrays used in optical subassembly modules, which are components in their fiber-optic products. AOI is currently an operating company.

Assignment timeline

  • 2019-01-23 (executed) / recorded 2019-01-25 — Reel 048137/0242

    • Conveyance: Assignment
    • Assignor: LIN, KAI-SHENG; LIU, KEVIN; CAI, ZILIANG
    • Assignee: APPLIED OPTOELECTRONICS, INC.
    • Correspondent: Not specified in the provided data.
    • Context: Transfer from inventors to the original assignee.

  • 2022-11-16 (executed) / recorded 2022-11-28 — Reel 062003/0523

    • Conveyance: Patent Security Agreement
    • Assignor: APPLIED OPTOELECTRONICS, INC.
    • Assignee: CIT NORTHBRIDGE CREDIT LLC
    • Correspondent: Ropes & Gray LLP, New York, NY.
    • Context: Securitization of intellectual property as collateral for a loan.

  • 2023-11-17 (executed) / recorded 2023-11-20 — Reel 065630/0906

    • Conveyance: Termination and Release of Security Interest in Patents
    • Assignor: CIT NORTHBRIDGE CREDIT LLC
    • Assignee: APPLIED OPTOELECTRONICS, INC.
    • Correspondent: Ropes & Gray LLP, New York, NY. This correspondent also appears on the previous security agreement.
    • Context: Release of security interest, returning full rights to original assignee.

  • 2025-07-31 (executed) / recorded 2025-08-01 — Reel 072338/0695

    • Conveyance: Security Interest
    • Assignor: APPLIED OPTOELECTRONICS, INC.
    • Assignee: BOKF, NA D/B/A BOK FINANCIAL
    • Correspondent: Haynes and Boone, LLP, Dallas, TX.
    • Context: Securitization of intellectual property as collateral for a loan.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 10788690
    2019 : Inventors to Applied Optoelectronics
    2020 : Issued
    2022 : Security interest to CIT Northbridge
    2023 : Security interest released
    2025 : Security interest to BOKF

NPE / troll-pattern signals

  1. Shell-entity transfer — not present. The patent was assigned from the inventors to Applied Optoelectronics Inc., an operating company. Subsequent assignments are related to security interests.
  2. Known asserter in the chain — not present. Neither CIT Northbridge Credit LLC nor BOKF, NA D/B/A BOK Financial are known NPEs; they are financial institutions involved in secured transactions.
  3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — present. Ropes & Gray LLP appears as the correspondent for both the security agreement recorded on 2022-11-28 (Reel 062003/0523) and the subsequent release recorded on 2023-11-20 (Reel 065630/0906). This indicates they handled both aspects of the same securitization transaction.
  4. Cascading transfers — not present. The transfers involve security interests and their release, not multiple consecutive assignments of ownership.
  5. Pre-litigation transfer — unclear. While there has been litigation involving this patent (multiple PTAB and District Court cases filed in 2024 and 2025), the recorded assignments are either from inventors to the operating company or related to security interests with financial institutions. It is unclear if any of the security interests directly preceded litigation to set venue or establish standing.
  6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. Applied Optoelectronics Inc. is an active operating company.
  7. Privateering — not present. The assignments do not indicate a transfer to an NPE for assertion on behalf of an operating company.
  8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The chain does not terminate at a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

Operating-company assertion
The ownership chain indicates that Applied Optoelectronics Inc., an operating company that ships products embodying the claims, is the current assignee. The other entities in the chain, CIT Northbridge Credit LLC and BOKF, NA D/B/A BOK FINANCIAL, are financial institutions involved in security agreements, not direct ownership transfers for assertion purposes (Reel 062003/0523, Reel 065630/0906, Reel 072338/0695). The litigation associated with this patent (IPR proceedings and district court cases) suggests assertion by the operating company or a licensee thereof.

Verification: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/

Generated 5/24/2026, 6:48:39 AM