Patent 11451883

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.

Active provider: Google · gemini-2.5-flash

Ownership chain (3)

Asserters network →

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

2020-06-04 · Assignment
BERNER, MARK K., FORD, MATT, HUSKE, TIM, MICHELI, MARK J., LOCKTON, DAVID B.AIRPLAY NETWORK, INC.
Correspondent: BRENT E. RUSH · BRENT E. RUSH
Transfer of inventors' interest to a new entity.
2020-06-04 · Assignment
AIRPLAY NETWORK, INC.WINVIEW, INC.
Correspondent: BRENT E. RUSH · BRENT E. RUSH
Transfer from Airplay Network to Winview, Inc.
2023-10-02 · Assignment
WINVIEW, INC.WINVIEW IP HOLDINGS, LLC
Correspondent: BRENT E. RUSH · BRENT E. RUSH
Transfer from an operating company to an IP holding company.

Assignment history

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Inventors

Tim Huske
Mark J. Micheli
Mark K. Berner
Matt Ford
David B. Lockton

No employer at the time of filing is readily determinable from the patent text. The inventors do not appear to have all departed the original assignee within 12 months of filing, as the original assignee is Winview Inc, and the inventors are listed in the original patent document.

Original assignee

Winview Inc. The patent text describes the "entertainment service operator" and "company's internet site" in a manner that suggests Winview Inc. was an operating company at some point, offering an interactive entertainment service (games, polls, surveys) correlated to live events or televised programs on various computing devices including cell phones. Their primary line of business was related to distributed entertainment systems and interactive gaming. Their current status is "Original Assignee: Winview Inc" according to Google Patents, but a later assignment indicates a change to "Winview IP Holdings LLC."

Assignment timeline

2020-06-04 (executed) / recorded 2020-06-04
- Conveyance: Assignment
- Assignor: BERNER, MARK K., FORD, MATT, HUSKE, TIM, MICHELI, MARK J., LOCKTON, DAVID B.
- Assignee: AIRPLAY NETWORK, INC.
- Correspondent: BRENT E. RUSH, BRENT E. RUSH, P.C.
- Context: Transfer of inventors' interest to a new entity.
2020-06-04 (executed) / recorded 2020-06-04
- Conveyance: Assignment
- Assignor: AIRPLAY NETWORK, INC.
- Assignee: WINVIEW, INC.
- Correspondent: BRENT E. RUSH, BRENT E. RUSH, P.C. - This correspondent recurs in this chain.
- Context: Transfer from Airplay Network to Winview, Inc.
2023-10-02 (executed) / recorded 2023-10-02
- Conveyance: Assignment
- Assignor: WINVIEW, INC.
- Assignee: WINVIEW IP HOLDINGS, LLC
- Correspondent: BRENT E. RUSH, BRENT E. RUSH, P.C. - This correspondent recurs in this chain.
- Context: Transfer from an operating company to an IP holding company.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 11451883
    2005 : Priority date
    2020 : Inventors assign to Airplay Network
         : Airplay Network assigns to Winview Inc
    2022 : Patent granted
    2023 : Winview Inc assigns to Winview IP Holdings LLC

NPE / troll-pattern signals

Shell-entity transfer — present. The transfer from "WINVIEW, INC." to "WINVIEW IP HOLDINGS, LLC" on 2023-10-02 (recorded 2023-10-02) suggests a shell entity transfer. The "IP Holdings" suffix in the assignee's name is a strong indicator.
Known asserter in the chain — unclear. Winview IP Holdings LLC is not explicitly listed on common public NPE lists such as those maintained by Acacia Research Corp, Marathon Patent Group, or Intellectual Ventures within the provided data. However, Google Patents indicates "Family has litigation" and points to a PTAB case IPR2026-00140 filed, which is a common occurrence with NPEs.
Repeat correspondent across the chain — present. BRENT E. RUSH, BRENT E. RUSH, P.C. appears as the correspondent for multiple assignments: the transfer from Airplay Network, INC. to WINVIEW, INC. (2020-06-04, recorded 2020-06-04) and the transfer from WINVIEW, INC. to WINVIEW IP HOLDINGS, LLC (2023-10-02, recorded 2023-10-02).
Cascading transfers — not present. There are three transfers, but only two occurred in close succession (Airplay Network to Winview Inc on 2020-06-04), followed by a gap of over three years before the next transfer to Winview IP Holdings LLC.
Pre-litigation transfer — unclear. While there's a PTAB case IPR2026-00140 listed as "filed (Pending)" on Google Patents, the exact date of the first infringement suit is not provided, making it impossible to determine if the 2023-10-02 assignment occurred within 6 months prior.
Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. No indication of bankruptcy proceedings for the original assignee, Winview Inc.
Privateering — unclear. No information is provided in the patent text or Google Patents legal events to confirm or deny privateering.
Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The chain does not end at a known defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — moderate confidence. The transfer from "WINVIEW, INC." to "WINVIEW IP HOLDINGS, LLC" on 2023-10-02, coupled with the repeated use of the same correspondent, BRENT E. RUSH, BRENT E. RUSH, P.C., across multiple assignments, are strong indicators of an NPE pattern. While explicit listing on an NPE database is not present in the provided information, the existence of an "IP Holdings" entity and associated litigation strongly suggest an assertion-focused strategy.

USPTO Assignment Center search page: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/

Generated 5/28/2026, 12:45:36 PM