Assignment history

Inventors

Graham Merrett.
At the time of the earliest priority date (July 24, 2007), Graham Merrett was with Messmo Technologies Pty. Ltd., an Australian entity, from 2007-2009. He described Messmo as an "early to market mobile over the top (OTT) messaging service, acquiring over 2 million subscribers".

Original assignee

Rembrandt Messaging Technologies LP.
The original assignee, Messmo Technologies Pty. Ltd. (Messmo), was a mobile internet texting platform that enabled users to share text and attachments such as audio, images, and video. Messmo ceased commercial operations in 2009 or 2010.
Rembrandt Messaging Technologies LP itself is an NPE, or "patent asserter." It does not appear to ship products embodying the claims, but rather is involved in patent assertion campaigns.

Assignment timeline

(No recorded assignments were found for US Patent 11089450 on the USPTO Assignment Center as of 2026-05-23. The Google Patents record indicates "Current Assignee: Rembrandt Messaging Technologies LP" and "Original Assignee: Rembrandt Messaging Technologies LP", suggesting no assignments have been recorded against the patent number since issuance, or that any prior assignments were recorded against parent applications).

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 11089450
    2007 : Priority date by Messmo Technologies
    2019 : Application filed by Rembrandt Messaging Technologies LP
    2021 : Patent issued to Rembrandt Messaging Technologies LP
    2024 : HBCU Messaging US LP (formerly Rembrandt Messaging Tech II) sues Apple

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — present. Messmo Technologies Pty. Ltd., the original operating company, ceased commercial operations in 2009 or 2010. In 2014, Messmo assigned its patent portfolio to Rembrandt Messaging Technologies, LP. Rembrandt Messaging Technologies, LP, and its related entities (Rembrandt Messaging Technologies II, LP, and Rembrandt IP Management, LLC) are described as an "IP monetization firm." The current owner, HBCU Messaging US LP (f/k/a Rembrandt Messaging Technologies II, LP), is a subsidiary of the HBCU Technology Foundation, which has accused Apple and Green Dot of infringement. These entities do not appear to ship products embodying the claims.

2. Known asserter in the chain — present. Rembrandt Messaging Technologies, LP, is explicitly identified as a "Patent Asserter" in the Stanford NPE Litigation Database and has a history of patent assertion campaigns. HBCU Messaging US LP (f/k/a Rembrandt Messaging Technologies II, LP) is also actively asserting patents.

3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — unclear. Without access to the actual recorded assignments on the USPTO Assignment Center for US11089450 or its parent applications, it's not possible to identify correspondent attorneys and firms.

4. Cascading transfers — unclear. The publicly available information from RPX and Mondaq indicates Messmo assigned the patents in 2014 to Rembrandt Messaging Technologies, LP, which then assigned US assets to Rembrandt Messaging Technologies II, LP, and then subsequently these entities were transferred to HBCU Tech Holding I, LLC and HBCU Tech Holding II, LLC, wholly owned subsidiaries of the HBCU Tech Foundation. This describes multiple transfers, but without specific recording dates and reel/frame numbers, it's not possible to confirm if they occurred in a cascading fashion within 24 months.

5. Pre-litigation transfer — present. Messmo assigned the patent portfolio to Rembrandt Messaging Technologies, LP in 2014. A German infringement action against Apple (and others) using a European counterpart of these patents was filed in June 2015, which is within 6 months of the 2014 assignment from Messmo. More recently, HBCU Messaging US LP (f/k/a Rembrandt Messaging Technologies II, LP) sued Apple and Green Dot in October 2024, and the transfer to HBCU Messaging US LP (from Rembrandt Messaging Technologies II, LP) was part of a decision by the Rembrandt entities to work with the HBCU Tech Foundation regarding the asserted patents, suggesting this transfer enabled the current litigation.

6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. While Messmo ceased commercial operations, there is no indication of a formal bankruptcy proceeding and fire-sale of its assets.

7. Privateering — unclear. While the original operating company (Messmo) ceased operations, and the patents were transferred to an NPE (Rembrandt entities), there's no explicit evidence in the provided snippets of Rembrandt (or HBCU Messaging US LP) asserting on Messmo's behalf against specific competitors of Messmo.

8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The chain leads to HBCU Messaging US LP, which is actively asserting the patent, not neutralizing it.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence
This verdict is based on multiple strong signals: the transfer from an operating company (Messmo) that ceased operations to a known patent asserter (Rembrandt Messaging Technologies LP and its successors, HBCU Messaging US LP), and the pre-litigation transfers where the assignment of the portfolio to Rembrandt entities in 2014 preceded a German infringement action in 2015, and a later transfer to HBCU Messaging US LP preceded a US infringement action in 2024.

Verification of assignment records can be performed at the USPTO Patent Assignment Search: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/