Patent 11261566

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.

  1. 2020-07-30 · recorded 2020-09-14 · reel 053763/0366 · Assignment

    Eberhardt, Robert; Klaschka, SusanneVoith Patent GmbH

    Correspondent: Robert M. O'Keefe

    initial assignment to employer

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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Inventors

The inventors, Robert Eberhardt and Susanne Klaschka, were employed by Voith Patent GmbH, the original assignee, at the time of filing. This is a standard pattern where inventors assign their rights to their employer.

Original assignee

The original assignee named on the issued patent is Voith Patent GmbH. Voith Patent GmbH is a German company that holds intellectual property for the larger Voith Group, which is a global technology company in the paper, raw materials, and energy sectors. Voith is known for supplying equipment and services for paper machines, including the "clothing" described in the patent. As of today, Voith Patent GmbH is an operating entity within the larger Voith Group.

Assignment timeline

  • 2020-07-30 (executed) / recorded 2020-09-14 — Reel 053763/0366
    • Conveyance: Assignment
    • Assignor: Eberhardt, Robert; Klaschka, Susanne
    • Assignee: Voith Patent GmbH
    • Correspondent: Robert M. O'Keefe, Voith US Inc., 2510 Holcombe Bridge Road, Suite 200, Roswell, GA 30076.
    • Context: Standard initial assignment of inventor rights to the employer.

The USPTO Patent Assignment Search for US11261566 at https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/ shows only one recorded assignment, which is the initial assignment from the inventors to Voith Patent GmbH. There are no further assignments from Voith Patent GmbH to any other entity recorded.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 11261566
    2019 : Application filed by Voith Patent GmbH
    2020 : Inventors assigned to Voith Patent GmbH
    2022 : Patent Issued to Voith Patent GmbH
    2025 : IPR filed against patent

NPE / troll-pattern signals

  1. Shell-entity transfer — Not present. The only recorded assignment is from the inventors to Voith Patent GmbH, an operating company.
  2. Known asserter in the chain — Not present. Voith Patent GmbH is not identified as a known NPE.
  3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Not present. There is only one assignment in the chain, handled by Robert M. O'Keefe of Voith US Inc.
  4. Cascading transfers — Not present. Only one assignment is recorded.
  5. Pre-litigation transfer — Unclear. While an IPR was filed in 2025, the only assignment occurred in 2020, well outside the 6-month window. The IPR petition was filed by Unified Patents, a defensive aggregator, not an asserting NPE.
  6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. There is no indication of bankruptcy.
  7. Privateering — Not present. There is no evidence of Voith Patent GmbH transferring the patent to an NPE for assertion on its behalf.
  8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The chain does not end at a defensive aggregator. An IPR was filed by Unified Patents against this patent, which is an action against the patent holder, not an acquisition by a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

Insufficient data (no records, or only the original assignment).

The only recorded assignment for US patent 11261566 is the initial transfer from the individual inventors, Robert Eberhardt and Susanne Klaschka, to their employer, Voith Patent GmbH (Reel 053763/0366, recorded 2020-09-14). This is a standard and expected transfer pattern for an operating company. No subsequent assignments indicating a transfer to a shell entity or known NPE are present in the USPTO assignment records, nor do any other signals suggest an NPE pattern.

For verification, see the USPTO Assignment Center search for US11261566.

Generated 5/16/2026, 6:48:36 PM