Assignment history

Inventors

• Hsin-Hsi Tsai: Likely employed by FG Innovation Company Limited at the time of invention/filing, as rights were assigned from the inventors to FG Innovation Company Limited on the application filing date.
• Chia-Hung Wei: Likely employed by FG Innovation Company Limited at the time of invention/filing.
• Chie-Ming Chou: Likely employed by FG Innovation Company Limited at the time of invention/filing.

Original assignee

Hannibal IP LLC is listed as the original assignee on the issued patent and was the entity that filed the application.
Hannibal IP LLC does not appear to ship products embodying the claims; its primary line of business is patent acquisition, licensing, and assertion, characteristic of a non-practicing entity due to its "IP LLC" naming convention and litigation activity.
Hannibal IP LLC is currently operating, as the patent is active and involved in ongoing litigation.

Assignment timeline

• 2020-04-27 (executed) / recorded 2020-04-27 — Reel 054174/0936

  • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
  • Assignor: CHOU, CHIE-MING, TSAI, HSIN-HSI, WEI, CHIA-HUNG (the inventors)
  • Assignee: FG INNOVATION COMPANY LIMITED
  • Correspondent: BAKER & MCKENZIE LAW OFFICES, LLP, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY DEPARTMENT, 275 Battery Street, 26th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94111-3399
  • Context: Transfer of inventive rights from individual inventors to an operating company (FG Innovation Company Limited).

• 2021-09-15 (executed) / recorded 2021-09-15 — Reel 058140/0178

  • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
  • Assignor: FG INNOVATION COMPANY LTD.
  • Assignee: HANNIBAL IP LLC
  • Correspondent: BAKER & MCKENZIE LAW OFFICES, LLP, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY DEPARTMENT, 275 Battery Street, 26th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94111-3399. This same correspondent (Baker & McKenzie) also handled the previous assignment in this chain.
  • Context: Transfer from an operating company to a patent assertion entity.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 11368911
    2020 : Filed by Hannibal IP LLC
         : Inventors assign to FG Innovation
    2021 : Assigned to Hannibal IP LLC
    2022 : Patent issued
    2025 : First infringement suit filed

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — present. The patent was transferred from FG Innovation Company Limited (likely an operating company) to Hannibal IP LLC, an entity with "IP LLC" in its name and no apparent products in commerce. The nature of Hannibal IP LLC, as evidenced by its name and assertion activity, points to it being a licensing-only entity.
2. Known asserter in the chain — present. Hannibal IP LLC is the current assignee and has been identified as involved in a PTAB case (IPR2025-01189) and a US District Court case (4:25-cv-00200 in Texas Eastern District Court), indicating a pattern of patent assertion.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — present. BAKER & MCKENZIE LAW OFFICES, LLP, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY DEPARTMENT is listed as the correspondent for both the 2020-04-27 assignment (Reel 054174/0936) and the 2021-09-15 assignment (Reel 058140/0178).
4. Cascading transfers — present. There are two transfers within a relatively short period (less than two years from the initial inventor assignment to the assignment to Hannibal IP LLC), and both assignments share the same correspondent. The inventors assigned to FG Innovation on 2020-04-27, and FG Innovation assigned to Hannibal IP LLC on 2021-09-15.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — not present. The assignment to Hannibal IP LLC was executed and recorded on 2021-09-15. The first recorded litigation in the Texas Eastern District Court (4:25-cv-00200) was filed in 2025, which is more than six months after the assignment.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. There is no indication in the patent record or associated legal events that the patent was sold as part of a bankruptcy proceeding.
7. Privateering — unclear. While FG Innovation Company Limited (the assignor to Hannibal IP LLC) appears to be an operating company, it is not clear from the available data whether Hannibal IP LLC is asserting the patent on FG Innovation's behalf against specific competitors.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The patent is currently held by Hannibal IP LLC, an asserting entity, not a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence
This verdict is based on multiple strong signals, including the clear shell-entity transfer from an apparent operating company (FG Innovation Company Limited) to Hannibal IP LLC (Reel 058140/0178, 2021-09-15), the involvement of Hannibal IP LLC in multiple patent assertion litigations, and the recurrence of the same correspondent (Baker & McKenzie Law Offices, LLP) across both recorded assignments.

USPTO Assignment Center Search for US11368911