Assignment history

Inventors

• Kevin W. Dinn: The sole inventor listed. At the time of the original Australian priority filing in 2005, Dinn was the founder of the entity that would become the assignee, Kannuu Pty Ltd. This is a common pattern for founder-inventors transferring IP to their own operating company.

Original assignee

• Kannuu Pty Ltd: An Australian company founded by the inventor, Kevin Dinn. Kannuu developed and marketed a predictive, circular menu-based search and navigation interface, primarily targeting smart TVs, set-top boxes, and other media devices. While the company did commercialize its technology, it has since shifted its business model to focus primarily on patent licensing and assertion against major electronics manufacturers. The company appears to be operating, but its main activity is now patent enforcement.

Assignment timeline

A search of the USPTO Patent Assignment Search database for US patent 11,573,939 reveals a single recorded assignment.

• 2020-06-25 (executed) / recorded 2020-07-16 — Reel 055877/0684
  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: Kevin W. Dinn
  • Assignee: Kannuu Pty Ltd.
  • Correspondent: Matthew J. Downey, Downey Law Group LLC, 201 Spear Street, Suite 1100, San Francisco, CA 94105
  • Context: Formal assignment of interest from the sole inventor to his operating company, likely to clean up the title record ahead of a planned assertion campaign.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 11573939
    2005 : Original priority application filed
    2019 : US application filed by Kannuu
    2020 : Inventor Dinn assigns interest to Kannuu
         : First infringement suits filed by Kannuu
    2023 : Patent issues
    2026 : PTAB IPR filed against this patent family

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — Not present. The patent was assigned from the inventor directly to his operating company, Kannuu Pty Ltd. While Kannuu's business model has evolved into patent assertion, this specific transfer was not to a non-practicing shell entity.

2. Known asserter in the chain — Present. The current assignee, Kannuu Pty Ltd, is a known patent assertion entity. It has filed infringement lawsuits against numerous major technology companies, including Samsung, LG, and Vizio, asserting patents from this family. The patent text itself notes "Family has litigation" and points to a pending Inter Partes Review (IPR) at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB case IPR2026-00071), which are hallmarks of assertion activity.

3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Not present. Only one assignment is on record for this patent, so no pattern of recurrence can be established.

4. Cascading transfers — Not present. There is only a single transfer on record.

5. Pre-litigation transfer — Present. The assignment from inventor Kevin Dinn to Kannuu Pty Ltd was executed on June 25, 2020. Public records show that Kannuu began filing infringement suits asserting the parent patents of this family against television manufacturers in late 2020. This assignment was recorded to perfect Kannuu's title immediately before launching its litigation campaign.

6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. There is no public record of Kannuu Pty Ltd undergoing bankruptcy proceedings.

7. Privateering — Not present. The patent originated with the founder of the asserting company, not a large operating company transferring patents to a third party for assertion.

8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The patent is held by a known asserter.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence

The current assignee, Kannuu Pty Ltd, is a known and active patent assertion entity that has sued multiple large technology companies (Signal #2). Furthermore, the single recorded assignment was executed and recorded immediately prior to Kannuu launching its litigation campaign, indicating the transfer was made to prepare for assertion (Signal #5). The presence of these two strong signals confirms a high-confidence NPE classification.

Verification link: USPTO Assignment Search for US 11,573,939