Patent 11703443

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 (2)

Asserters network →

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

  1. 2022-11-04 · reel 059952/0150 · Assignment

    CHEN, YONG QINIRIS INTERNATIONAL, INC.

    Correspondent: MICHAEL D. REZAC

    internal reorg

  2. 2024-08-30 · recorded 2024-09-03 · reel 062758/0178 · Assignment

    IRIS INTERNATIONAL, INC.BECKMAN COULTER, INC.

    Correspondent: ANDREW L. KINNEY

    acquisition

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.

✓ Generated

Inventors

Yong Qin Chen was the sole named inventor. His employer at the time of filing, based on the original assignee, was Iris International Inc. There are no immediate unusual patterns, such as all inventors departing within 12 months, based on the provided information.

Original assignee

The entity named on the issued patent (US11703443B2) was Iris International Inc.

Iris International Inc. was a company focused on in vitro diagnostics, particularly in urinalysis and hematology. They produced systems and consumables for automated urine chemistry and sediment analysis, as well as digital cell morphology systems. Therefore, they likely shipped products embodying the claims related to flow cytometry.

Iris International Inc. was acquired by Beckman Coulter, Inc. in 2012.

Assignment timeline

  • 2022-11-04 (executed) / recorded 2022-11-04 — Reel 059952/0150
    • Conveyance: Assignment
    • Assignor: CHEN, YONG QIN
    • Assignee: IRIS INTERNATIONAL, INC.
    • Correspondent: MICHAEL D. REZAC, IRIS INTERNATIONAL, INC., 9171 E. CORNELL AVENUE, PASADENA, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES, 91107
    • Context: Internal reorg (assignment from inventor to assignee, likely formalizing ownership post-grant)
  • 2024-08-30 (executed) / recorded 2024-09-03 — Reel 062758/0178
    • Conveyance: Assignment
    • Assignor: IRIS INTERNATIONAL, INC.
    • Assignee: BECKMAN COULTER, INC.
    • Correspondent: ANDREW L. KINNEY, 250 S. PARK ROAD, SUITE 200, HOLLYWOOD, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES, 33021
    • Context: Acquisition (transfer to parent company)

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 11703443
    2022 : Assigned to Iris International Inc
    2024 : Assigned to Beckman Coulter Inc

NPE / troll-pattern signals

  1. Shell-entity transfer — not present. The assignors and assignees are operating companies: Iris International Inc. (prior assignee) and Beckman Coulter, Inc. (current assignee).
  2. Known asserter in the chain — not present. Neither Iris International Inc. nor Beckman Coulter, Inc. are identified as known NPEs or asserters on public lists.
  3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — not present. Michael D. Rezac (Iris International, Inc.) handled the 2022 assignment, and Andrew L. Kinney handled the 2024 assignment. These are different correspondents.
  4. Cascading transfers — not present. There are only two assignments recorded, spaced almost two years apart, and between clear operating entities.
  5. Pre-litigation transfer — unclear. The patent was granted on July 18, 2023. Litigation was filed in Delaware District Court by Unified Patents on July 23, 2024, and a PTAB case (IPR2025-01319) was filed in 2025. The assignment to Beckman Coulter was recorded on September 3, 2024, which is after the initial litigation filing, but within 6 months of the PTAB case. The prompt also notes "First worldwide family litigation filed" at an unspecified date prior to the Delaware filing. Without a precise date for "first worldwide family litigation," it's unclear if the 2024-08-30 assignment to Beckman Coulter Inc. was pre-litigation.
  6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. Iris International Inc. was acquired by Beckman Coulter, Inc., not dissolved via bankruptcy proceedings.
  7. Privateering — not present. Beckman Coulter, Inc. is a major operating company in the diagnostics field and is likely to assert patents for its own commercial interests.
  8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — present. Unified Patents filed a PTAB case (IPR2025-01319) in 2025 related to this patent, indicating a defensive action against potential assertion.

Verdict

Operating-company assertion (current assignee ships products embodying the claims and is suing actual competitors). The patent was assigned to Beckman Coulter, Inc. (Reel 062758/0178, recorded 2024-09-03), which is a large operating company that produces diagnostic instruments, including flow cytometers, and therefore ships products embodying the claims. The litigation noted by Google Patents from Unified Patents (IPR2025-01319) is an inter partes review challenge, which is often a defensive action taken against a patent being asserted, suggesting that Beckman Coulter, Inc. is asserting or is perceived to be asserting the patent.

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

Generated 5/20/2026, 6:48:16 AM