Assignment history

Inventors

Stephen E. Delaporte is the sole named inventor of US Patent 11,520,378. At the time of filing, Mr. Delaporte assigned his interest in the invention to Lepton Computing LLC. His employer at the time of filing is not explicitly stated in the patent document, but the assignment record indicates he was the original owner of the invention prior to assigning it to Lepton Computing LLC.

Original Assignee

The original assignee on the issued patent is Lepton Computing LLC.
Reports indicate that Lepton Computing LLC has not commercially released any products embodying the claims of this patent, suggesting its primary line of business is patent licensing and assertion. Lepton Computing LLC is currently an operating entity, actively asserting this patent in litigation against Samsung Electronics.

Assignment timeline

The USPTO Patent Assignment Search for US11520378 reveals one assignment record:

• 2022-01-31 (executed) / recorded 2022-02-04 — Reel 058378/0101
  • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
  • Assignor: DELAPORTE, STEPHEN E.
  • Assignee: LEPTON COMPUTING LLC
  • Correspondent: LEHTINEN, JOHN S., JOHN S. LEHTINEN, ESQ., 1201 N. Market Street, Suite 1104, Wilmington, DE, 19801. This correspondent also appears on other patents tracked by this site (e.g., US11048299, US11048300, US11086361, US11093002, US11209863, US11520377, US11693450, and US12140998).
  • Context: Inventor assigns rights to a newly formed entity.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 11520378
    2021 : Application filed
    2022 : Inventor assigns to Lepton Computing LLC
         : Patent issued
    2026 : Infringement suit filed by Lepton Computing LLC

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — present. The patent was assigned by inventor Stephen E. Delaporte to Lepton Computing LLC (Reel 058378/0101). Lepton Computing LLC is described in the litigation summary as a non-practicing entity that has not commercially released any products. Its name structure ("Computing LLC") does not strongly indicate a shell, but the lack of products and active assertion strongly support this signal. The correspondent's address in Wilmington, DE, is a common location for registered agent services, further supporting the shell entity characteristic.
2. Known asserter in the chain — present. Lepton Computing LLC is identified in the provided litigation summary as an entity asserting nine patents, including US11520378, against Samsung's foldable phones, with reports suggesting it may be a non-practicing entity. This directly points to Lepton Computing LLC operating as a patent asserter.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — present. John S. Lehtinen, Esq., of JOHN S. LEHTINEN, ESQ., located at 1201 N. Market Street, Suite 1104, Wilmington, DE, 19801, is the correspondent for the assignment from Stephen E. Delaporte to Lepton Computing LLC (Reel 058378/0101). The prompt explicitly states that this correspondent recurs on other patents being tracked (US11048299, US11048300, US11086361, US11093002, US11209863, US11520377, US11693450, and US12140998), which are also part of the lawsuit. This recurrence strongly suggests a consistent legal representative for a group of related entities, a common NPE pattern.
4. Cascading transfers — not present. There is only one recorded assignment for this patent.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — not present. The sole assignment (executed 2022-01-31, recorded 2022-02-04) occurred well before the litigation filing date (around April 25-27, 2026).
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. No indication of bankruptcy for the assignor or assignee.
7. Privateering — unclear. There is no publicly available information in the provided context to suggest an operating company transferred the patent to Lepton Computing LLC for assertion on its behalf.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The current assignee, Lepton Computing LLC, is asserting the patent, not holding it defensively.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence

This verdict is based on multiple strong signals. Lepton Computing LLC, the current assignee (Reel 058378/0101, recorded 2022-02-04), is identified as a non-practicing entity actively asserting the patent in litigation, and there are no products associated with the company. Furthermore, the consistent use of correspondent John S. Lehtinen, Esq. across this patent and a portfolio of other asserted patents (as noted in the assignment timeline) is a strong indicator of an NPE operation, where legal counsel often remains consistent even as different shell entities are used.

USPTO Assignment Center search for verification: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/ (Search for patent number 11520378).