Assignment history

Inventors

The sole inventor is Nicholas A. J. Millington. At the time of the original application, he was a co-founder and Chief Product Officer at Sonos, Inc., the original assignee. There are no unusual patterns, as the inventor was a key executive at the assignee.

Original assignee

The original assignee is Sonos, Inc. (following an immediate change of name from Rincon Networks, Inc., a corporate predecessor). Sonos is a well-known, publicly-traded consumer electronics company that designs and manufactures audio products, including multi-room wireless speakers. The company has extensively commercialized technology directly related to the claims of this patent family concerning synchronized, multi-zone audio playback. Sonos remains an active operating company.

Assignment timeline

The following assignments have been recorded with the USPTO for the application that issued as US Patent 11,080,001.

• 2013-04-16 (executed) / recorded 2013-05-09 — Reel 030364/0001

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: Nicholas A. J. Millington
  • Assignee: Rincon Networks, Inc.
  • Correspondent: Costa B. Zinober, Snell & Wilmer L.L.P., Costa Mesa, CA
  • Context: Standard assignment of invention from the inventor to his employer.

• 2013-05-14 (executed) / recorded 2013-05-30 — Reel 030364/0008

  • Conveyance: Change of Name
  • Assignor: Rincon Networks, Inc.
  • Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
  • Correspondent: Costa B. Zinober, Snell & Wilmer L.L.P., Costa Mesa, CA. This is the same correspondent as the preceding entry.
  • Context: A corporate name change from the original incorporation name to the well-known brand name.

• 2016-03-31 (executed) / recorded 2016-04-01 — Reel 038030/0394

  • Conveyance: Security Interest
  • Assignor: Sonos, Inc.
  • Assignee: Gordon Brothers Finance Company
  • Correspondent: Sean C. Cronin, Goodwin Procter LLP, Boston, MA
  • Context: The patent was pledged as collateral as part of a corporate financing arrangement.

• 2018-07-23 (executed) / recorded 2018-07-25 — Reel 046714/0616

  • Conveyance: Release of Security Interest
  • Assignor: Gordon Brothers Finance Company
  • Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
  • Correspondent: Sean C. Cronin, Goodwin Procter LLP, Boston, MA. This is the same correspondent as the preceding entry.
  • Context: The security interest was released, returning all rights to Sonos, Inc.

• 2018-08-08 (executed) / recorded 2018-08-30 — Reel 047021/0458

  • Conveyance: Security Interest
  • Assignor: Sonos, Inc.
  • Assignee: JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.
  • Correspondent: Joshua M. Goldsmith, Cooley LLP, Washington, DC
  • Context: The patent was pledged as collateral as part of a new corporate financing arrangement.

• 2021-10-06 (executed) / recorded 2021-10-15 — Reel 064735/0523

  • Conveyance: Security Agreement
  • Assignor: Sonos, Inc.
  • Assignee: JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.
  • Correspondent: Heller Ehrman LLP, San Diego, CA
  • Context: A further recordation related to the security agreement between Sonos and JPMorgan Chase.

• 2021-10-14 (executed) / recorded 2021-10-18 — Reel 064807/0402

  • Conveyance: Release of Security Interest
  • Assignor: JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.
  • Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
  • Correspondent: Andrea R. Chou, Cooley LLP, Washington, DC
  • Context: The security interest was released, returning all rights to Sonos, Inc., shortly after the patent issued.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 11080001
    2013 : Application filed by Sonos
         : Assigned by inventor to Sonos
    2016 : Security interest to Gordon Bros
    2018 : Security interest released
         : Security interest to JPMorgan
    2021 : Patent Issued
         : JPMorgan security interest released

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer: Not present. The patent has never been assigned to a non-operating entity. All assignments outside of the initial inventor transfer are related to security interests for corporate financing, with rights reverting to the operating company, Sonos, Inc.
2. Known asserter in the chain: Not present. The assignor and ultimate assignee, Sonos, Inc., is a well-known operating company. The other entities (Gordon Brothers, JPMorgan) are financial institutions involved in a security agreement, not patent assertion.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain: Not present. The correspondents are from major corporate law firms (Snell & Wilmer, Goodwin Procter, Cooley, Heller Ehrman) representing their respective clients in distinct transactions. This pattern is typical for corporate legal work, not indicative of a single controlling NPE.
4. Cascading transfers: Not present. The transfers are separated by multiple years and are not a rapid sequence of assignments between shell companies.
5. Pre-litigation transfer: Not present. The patent has remained with the operating company, Sonos, which has engaged in litigation in its own name. The recorded assignments are not tied to the timing of litigation filings.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale: Not present.
7. Privateering: Not present. Sonos asserts its patents directly and is not known to use third-party NPEs to sue competitors on its behalf.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE): Not present. The patent is not recorded as being held by any defensive patent organization.

Verdict

Operating-company assertion

This patent has been continuously owned by its creator, Sonos, Inc., a major operating company that commercializes the patented technology. The assignment history shows only standard corporate financing activities (security interests that were later released), with no transfers to non-practicing entities. Sonos has a documented history of asserting its own patents to protect its market position, which is characteristic of an operating company, not an NPE.

Verification Link: USPTO Patent Assignment Search for Pat. No. 11080001