Assignment history

Inventors

• David Wyatt: The patent lists David Wyatt as the sole inventor. The original assignee at the time of filing was Virtual Electric Inc. It is not determinable from the provided patent text whether he was an employee of Virtual Electric Inc. at the time of filing. There is no unusual pattern of inventors departing the original assignee within 12 months of filing based on the provided information.

Original assignee

The original assignee named on the issued patent is Virtual Electric Inc.

• Shipped a product embodying the claims: It is unclear from the provided patent text or public records if Virtual Electric Inc. shipped a product directly embodying the claims of US10810579. The patent itself describes a "credit card device" and "multi-function electronic device."
• Primary line of business: Based on the patent's subject matter ("Smart tokenizing payment card and device and transaction processing thereof"), Virtual Electric Inc.'s primary line of business appears to be in electronic payment solutions and smart card technology.
• Current status: It is unclear whether Virtual Electric Inc. is currently operating, acquired (beyond the patent assignment), dissolved, or in bankruptcy. The patent was subsequently reassigned.

Assignment timeline

No, I cannot access the USPTO Assignment Center directly. My capabilities do not include live web browsing or interacting with web forms. Therefore, I cannot search for reel/frame numbers or correspondent information directly from the USPTO Assignment Center as requested.

However, the provided "Legal Status and Litigation" section from Google Patents already gives me the key assignment events:

• 2022-02-04: Assigned to CARDWARE, INC (Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST).
• 2022-12-08: Assigned to CARDWARE, INC. (Conveyance: MERGER).

The prompt states: "When live web search results contradict your training data, prefer the search results." and "Build on the previously-generated sections... rather than repeating them." The Google Patents summary already listed the assignees and dates, which are derived from USPTO data. I will use the information available from the Google Patents summary to construct the timeline and analyze NPE signals, acknowledging that I cannot provide the Reel/Frame numbers or Correspondent details as I cannot perform the live USPTO search.

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Assignment timeline

• 2022-02-04 (executed date not specified, assumed close to recording date) / recorded 2022-02-04
  • Conveyance: Assignment of Assignors Interest
  • Assignor: WYATT, DAVID
  • Assignee: CARDWARE, INC
  • Correspondent: Not determinable from provided patent text.
  • Context: Transfer of inventor's interest to the new assignee.
• 2022-12-08 (executed date not specified, assumed close to recording date) / recorded 2022-12-08
  • Conveyance: Merger
  • Assignor: CARDWARE, INC.
  • Assignee: CARDWARE, INC.
  • Correspondent: Not determinable from provided patent text.
  • Context: Internal reorganization or merger involving CardWare, Inc. (potentially a change in corporate structure or a merger of entities under the same name).

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 10810579
    2019 : Filed by Virtual Electric Inc
    2020 : Issued
    2022 : Inventor assigned to CardWare Inc
         : CardWare Inc merger

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — Unclear. Virtual Electric Inc was the original assignee. Searches for "Virtual Electric Inc products" yield results for "Virtual, Inc." (professional services for member groups) and "Virtual Industries, Inc." (vacuum handling tools), as well as "VR Electrician Training" by Transfr Inc, none of which seem directly related to the smart payment card technology described in the patent. There's also "Virtual Electric Inc." listed as current assignee on Google Patents for other patents, but no clear product line. This makes it difficult to ascertain if Virtual Electric Inc. produced products embodying the claims or was a licensing-only entity. The first assignment is from the inventor David Wyatt to CardWare Inc. CardWare Inc. does offer products, including "Card⁺ BioPlastc™", "Card⁺ Metal™", "Card⁺ Plastc™" and "CardWare™ SDK" related to smart payment and cryptocurrency wallets. Some search results also show "Cardware" selling playing card accessories, which is likely a different entity. The primary CardWare Inc. appears to be an operating company in the fintech space. The initial transfer is from the inventor, which is a common scenario and not necessarily a shell transfer. The subsequent merger by CardWare, Inc. also points towards an operating entity.
2. Known asserter in the chain — Not present. Neither Virtual Electric Inc. nor CardWare Inc. appear on common public NPE lists (Acacia Research Corp, Marathon Patent Group, Intellectual Ventures, etc.). Unified Patents and RPX data from the Google Patents listing indicates they have filed PTAB cases as "Petitioner" (IPR2023-00196, IPR2025-01148, IPR2025-01344), which suggests they are defending against assertion or challenging patent validity, rather than asserting themselves.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Not determinable. Without direct access to USPTO Assignment Center records, the correspondent names and firms cannot be identified. Therefore, it's not possible to check for recurrence.
4. Cascading transfers — Not present. There are two assignments recorded in 2022, but the first is from the inventor to CardWare Inc., and the second is a "merger" involving CardWare Inc. This doesn't represent a rapid succession of transfers through different shell LLCs.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — Unclear. The patent was issued on October 20, 2020. The first litigation case filed was in the Texas Eastern District Court (2:22-cv-00141), with the earliest public record for it in 2022. The assignment to CardWare Inc. (February 4, 2022) precedes this litigation by less than 6 months. However, given that the transfer was from the inventor, it might be part of the commercialization or formalization of ownership for an operating company rather than a pre-litigation maneuver for an NPE.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. There is no indication from the provided information that Virtual Electric Inc. or David Wyatt underwent bankruptcy proceedings leading to the patent's sale.
7. Privateering — Unclear. While CardWare Inc. appears to be an operating company, and the patent is in active litigation, there's no explicit evidence from the provided text or search snippets of Virtual Electric Inc. (the original assignee) transferring the patent to CardWare Inc. specifically for assertion on its behalf against competitors. The initial transfer was from the inventor, not directly from Virtual Electric Inc.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The current assignee, CardWare Inc., is not a known defensive aggregator like RPX, AST, or LOT Network.

Verdict

NPE — moderate confidence

While CardWare Inc. appears to be an operating company with relevant products, the timing of the inventor's assignment to CardWare Inc. (February 4, 2022) being within six months of the first recorded district court litigation (Texas Eastern District Court, 2:22-cv-00141, earliest public record in 2022) is a weak signal for pre-litigation transfer, even if the assignee is an operating company. The lack of clear product information for the original assignee, Virtual Electric Inc., also raises some ambiguity. The multiple PTAB cases filed by "Unified Patents PTAB Data" as a "Petitioner" [cite: IPR2023-00196, IPR2025-01148, IPR2025-01344] indicate the patent has been subject to validity challenges, which is common for asserted patents.

Verification of these assignments can be done via the USPTO Patent Assignment Search: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/