Patent 10880592

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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Ownership chain (1)

Asserters network →

Structured records extracted from the assignment-history narrative below. Each entity links to its full ownership-network profile.

2018-03-15 · recorded 2024-01-05 · reel 065568/0503 · ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
TANAKA, MASAHIDE NL GIKEN INCORPORATED
Correspondent: ROBERT J. DEPKE · DEPKE LAW FIRM
initial assignment

Assignment history

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Inventors

The sole named inventor for US Patent 10,880,592 is Masahide Tanaka. At the time of filing the application (March 16, 2018), Masahide Tanaka was the inventor, and the application was filed by NL Giken Inc., indicating that NL Giken Inc. was likely his employer or the entity to which the invention was assigned at or before the filing date. There is no information to suggest unusual patterns such as the inventor departing the original assignee shortly after filing. Masahide Tanaka is also identified as the CEO of NL Giken Incorporated.

Original assignee

The original assignee named on the issued patent is NL Giken Inc. NL Giken Inc. is described as a "Japanese intellectual property holding and technology company with a portfolio focused on video display, encoding, and streaming technologies". The company was formed by the inventor, Masahide Tanaka, to "develop and license" his inventions. Based on available information, NL Giken Inc. does not appear to ship products embodying the claims of US 10,880,592. Its primary line of business is patent licensing and enforcement. As of the current date, NL Giken Inc. is an operating entity and is actively asserting its patents in litigation.

Assignment timeline

2018-03-15 (executed) / recorded 2024-01-05 — Reel 065568/0503
- Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
- Assignor: TANAKA, MASAHIDE
- Assignee: NL GIKEN INCORPORATED
- Correspondent: ROBERT J. DEPKE (DEPKE LAW FIRM, LLC), 2900 AMERITECH BLVD., STE 200, WARRENVILLE, IL 60555. This correspondent appears once in this patent's assignment chain.
- Context: Initial assignment from the inventor to the corporate entity that filed the patent application.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 10880592
    2008 : Priority date
    2009 : Parent application filed
    2018 : Filed by NL Giken Inc
         : Inventor assigns to NL Giken
    2020 : Issued
    2024 : Inventor assignment recorded
         : Infringement suit filed (Amazon)
    2025 : PTAB IPR filed (Twitch)
         : PTAB IPR settled

NPE / troll-pattern signals

Shell-entity transfer — unclear. While NL Giken Inc. operates as an intellectual property holding and technology company focused on licensing and enforcement rather than product development, there is no recorded transfer from an operating assignee to a separate licensing-only shell LLC for this specific patent. The patent was assigned directly from the inventor to NL Giken Inc. (Reel 065568/0503).
Known asserter in the chain — present. NL Giken Inc. is identified by RPX as an "Inventor-controlled Japanese Plaintiff" and has filed litigation against Amazon (Twitch) and Apple, asserting US 10,880,592. Unified Patents also identifies NL Giken Incorporated as the owner and asserter in an ex parte reexamination proceeding against the patent.
Repeat correspondent across the chain — not present. Robert J. Depke of DEPKE LAW FIRM, LLC is listed as the correspondent for the single assignment recorded (Reel 065568/0503). There are no multiple assignments in the chain for this patent to observe a recurrence of this correspondent.
Cascading transfers — not present. Only one assignment from the inventor to the original assignee is recorded for this patent.
Pre-litigation transfer — not present. The assignment from the inventor to NL Giken Inc. was executed on March 15, 2018, and recorded on January 5, 2024 (Reel 065568/0503). The first infringement suit involving this patent (1:24-cv-00028) was filed on January 9, 2024. While the recording date is very close to the litigation filing, the execution date predates the litigation by several years, indicating ownership was established long before the suit.
Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. There is no public record or indication of NL Giken Inc. undergoing bankruptcy proceedings.
Privateering — unclear. There is no explicit evidence to suggest that NL Giken Inc. is asserting the patent on behalf of an operating company. NL Giken Inc. is described as "inventor-controlled".
Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The patent remains with NL Giken Inc., an asserting entity, and has not been transferred to a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence

NL Giken Inc. is explicitly identified as an "intellectual property holding and technology company" by PatSnap Eureka and as an "Inventor-controlled Japanese Plaintiff" by RPX. The company's business model is described as developing and licensing inventions, and it is actively involved in patent infringement litigation, including asserting US 10,880,592 against Amazon and Apple, and has been the subject of an IPR by Unified Patents. These actions are strong signals of an NPE operating pattern.

Verification: USPTO Assignment Center for US10880592

Generated 5/29/2026, 11:53:01 PM