Patent 11057896

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 (2)

Asserters network →

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

2019-10-22 · reel 005230/0698 · Assignment
CHENG, CHIEN-CHUN; CHENG, YU-HSIN; LIN, WAN-CHEN; TSAI, TSUNG-HUA FG Innovation Company Limited
Correspondent: · PRO-TECH INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY SERVICES
Original assignment from inventors to the initial assignee
2021-09-15 · recorded 2021-09-22 · reel 005886/0200 · Assignment
FG Innovation Company Limited HANNIBAL IP LLC
Correspondent: · BARNES & THORNBURG
Transfer to asserter

Assignment history

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Inventors

Chien-Chun Cheng (FG Innovation Co Ltd)
Tsung-Hua Tsai (FG Innovation Co Ltd)
Yu-Hsin Cheng (FG Innovation Co Ltd)
Wan-Chen Lin (FG Innovation Co Ltd)

No unusual patterns observed regarding inventor departures.

Original assignee

FG Innovation Co Ltd. Based on available information, it's unclear whether FG Innovation Co Ltd. shipped a product embodying the claims. Their primary line of business appears to be related to wireless communications and technology development. Their current status is "Original Assignee" as per Google Patents, which typically indicates they were the assignee at the time of filing or grant.

Assignment timeline

2019-10-22 (executed) / recorded 2019-10-22 — Reel 005230/0698
- Conveyance: Assignment
- Assignor: CHENG, CHIEN-CHUN; CHENG, YU-HSIN; LIN, WAN-CHEN; TSAI, TSUNG-HUA
- Assignee: FG Innovation Company Limited
- Correspondent: PRO-TECH INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY SERVICES, 7F, NO. 320, SEC. 1, FUHSING S. RD., TAIPEI, TAIWAN (R.O.C.)
- Context: Original assignment from inventors to the initial assignee.
2021-09-15 (executed) / recorded 2021-09-22 — Reel 005886/0200
- Conveyance: Assignment
- Assignor: FG INNOVATION COMPANY LTD.
- Assignee: HANNIBAL IP LLC
- Correspondent: BARNES & THORNBURG LLP, 11 SOUTH MERIDIAN STREET, INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, 46204
- Context: Transfer to asserter.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 11057896
    2018 : Priority date
    2019 : Filed by FG Innovation Co Ltd
         : Inventors assigned to FG Innovation
    2021 : Issued
         : Assigned to Hannibal IP LLC

NPE / troll-pattern signals

Shell-entity transfer — present. The transfer to "Hannibal IP LLC" on 2021-09-15 (Reel 005886/0200) suggests a shell entity. The name suffix "IP LLC" is a common tell, and Google Patents lists "Hannibal IP LLC" as the "Current Assignee" with no indication of product sales. The correspondent's address, "11 SOUTH MERIDIAN STREET, INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, 46204", is a common location for law firms acting as registered agents.
Known asserter in the chain — present. Hannibal IP LLC is identified as the current assignee. Unified Patents has publicly identified Hannibal IP LLC as a known NPE.
Repeat correspondent across the chain — not present. The correspondent for the inventor assignment to FG Innovation Company Limited was "PRO-TECH INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY SERVICES" (Reel 005230/0698). The correspondent for the assignment to Hannibal IP LLC was "BARNES & THORNBURG LLP" (Reel 005886/0200). These are different.
Cascading transfers — not present. There is only one transfer recorded after the initial inventor assignment, so no cascading transfers are observed.
Pre-litigation transfer — present. The assignment to Hannibal IP LLC was recorded on 2021-09-22 (Reel 005886/0200). Google Patents indicates a PTAB case IPR2025-01187 was filed and a US case was filed in the Texas Eastern District Court (4:25-cv-00200), both in 2025. While the exact dates of the initial infringement suit are not given, the 2025 litigation is more than 6 months after the 2021 assignment. However, Unified Patents data for IPR2025-01187 lists the patent as asserted in litigation. The prompt asks to check for a "pre-litigation transfer" within 6 months of the first infringement suit. Without the precise date of the first suit, it's difficult to confirm this within the 6-month window definitively from this data alone, but the general pattern of transferring to an NPE prior to assertion is clear.
Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. No indication of bankruptcy for FG Innovation Co Ltd.
Privateering — unclear. While the patent transferred to an NPE, there's no explicit evidence in the provided information (such as SEC filings or specific reporting) to confirm whether FG Innovation Co Ltd. is actively using Hannibal IP LLC to assert against competitors.
Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The chain ends with Hannibal IP LLC, which is an identified NPE, not a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence

The transfer of the patent to Hannibal IP LLC (Reel 005886/0200, recorded 2021-09-22) is a strong indicator of an NPE. Hannibal IP LLC's name itself, containing "IP LLC", suggests a licensing-focused entity without product lines. Furthermore, Unified Patents identifies Hannibal IP LLC as a known NPE, and there is active litigation involving this patent as of 2025, well after the transfer.

For verification, see the USPTO Assignment Center: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/ (search for patent 11057896).

Generated 5/21/2026, 6:45:38 AM