Assignment history

Inventors

• Timothy Beggy (Employer at time of filing: Trinity Info Media LLC)
• David Shaun Neal (Employer at time of filing: Trinity Info Media LLC)

Original assignee

The original assignee named on the issued patent US10936685B2 is Trinity Info Media LLC. Based on legal filings and analyses by organizations like Unified Patents, Trinity Info Media LLC is identified as a Non-Practicing Entity (NPE). The patent describes a "poll-based networking and ecommerce system," but there is no evidence to suggest that Trinity Info Media LLC manufactures or ships products embodying the claims. Its primary line of business appears to be patent assertion and licensing. The company is currently operating, evidenced by its engagement in patent litigation, although claims of US10936685 were found ineligible under 35 U.S.C. § 101 by the Federal Circuit.

Assignment timeline

• 2020-01-23 to 2020-12-08 (executed) / recorded 2020-12-08 — Reel 054580/0358
  • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
  • Assignor: BEGGY, TIMOTHY; NEAL, DAVID SHAUN
  • Assignee: TRINITY INFO MEDIA, LLC
  • Correspondent: BAKER, ROBERT E.; FOLEY & LARDNER LLP; ONE NORTH WACKER DRIVE, SUITE 2400, CHICAGO, IL 60606-2815. This correspondent does not recur in this patent's assignment chain.
  • Context: This represents the initial assignment of the inventors' rights to the assignee for the patent application that led to US10936685.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 10936685
    2010 : Priority date
    2018 : Application filed
    2020 : Inventors assign to Trinity Info Media LLC
    2021 : Patent issued
         : Litigation initiated by Trinity
    2023 : Federal Circuit affirms patent invalidity

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — Present. The patent remains with Trinity Info Media LLC, which is identified as a Non-Practicing Entity (NPE) by Unified Patents and through its history of patent assertion without commercial products.
2. Known asserter in the chain — Present. Trinity Info Media LLC is identified as an NPE and high-frequency plaintiff by Unified Patents.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Not present. Only one assignment record is found for this specific patent, showing Robert E. Baker of Foley & Lardner LLP as the correspondent [cite: 054580/0358]. Without other assignments for this patent, a recurrence pattern cannot be established for this chain.
4. Cascading transfers — Not present. Only one assignment from the inventors to Trinity Info Media LLC is recorded for this patent.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — Unclear. The assignment (Reel 054580/0358, executed 2020-01-23 to 2020-12-08, recorded 2020-12-08) predates the first identified litigation filing against Covalent (February 2021) by less than six months (for the later execution date) to over a year (for the earlier execution date). However, this is an initial assignment from inventors, not a transfer between corporate entities, so it's less indicative of a pre-litigation transfer-to-asserter strategy. The fact that the initial assignment to the NPE was recorded relatively close to the first suit could be a weak signal.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. There is no information indicating that the patent originated from a bankruptcy sale.
7. Privateering — Not present. There is no evidence from the provided information to suggest privateering activity.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The patent is owned by an NPE and is being asserted, rather than held by a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence. Trinity Info Media LLC is explicitly identified as an NPE by Unified Patents and has a clear history of asserting this and related patents in infringement lawsuits against multiple companies. The Federal Circuit affirming the dismissal of litigation related to US10936685 on § 101 grounds further underscores its role as a non-practicing entity engaged in patent assertion.

For verification, see the USPTO Patent Assignment Search for patent number 10936685: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/.