Assignment history

Inventors

• Joshua Johnson (Gaea LLC)
• Curt Bruner (Gaea LLC)
• Jeffrey Reh (Gaea LLC)
• Christopher Squires (Gaea LLC)
• Brian Wilson (Gaea LLC)

Note: All inventors appear to have been employed by Gaea LLC at the time of filing.

Original assignee

Gaea LLC.
Based on the available information, it is unclear whether Gaea LLC ships a product embodying the claims or their primary line of business. The company's current status is "Active" as per the Google Patents legal status.

Assignment timeline

• 2023-09-18 (executed) / recorded 2023-09-18 — Reel 006509/0002

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: Jeffrey Reh, Christopher Squires, Brian Wilson, Joshua Jackson, Curt Bruner
  • Assignee: Gaea LLC
  • Correspondent: Matthew J. Rizzolo, Rizzolo Law Firm, P.C., 20404 Royal Oak Dr., Ashburn, VA 20147. This correspondent appears on this and at least one other assignment for this patent.
  • Context: Internal transfer from individual inventors to assignee.

• 2024-02-20 (executed) / recorded 2024-02-20 — Reel 006509/0002

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: Jeffrey Reh, Christopher Squires, Brian Wilson, Joshua Jackson, Curt Bruner
  • Assignee: Gaea LLC
  • Correspondent: Matthew J. Rizzolo, Rizzolo Law Firm, P.C., 20404 Royal Oak Dr., Ashburn, VA 20147. This correspondent appears on this and at least one other assignment for this patent.
  • Context: This appears to be a re-recording or duplicate recording of the 2023-09-18 assignment, as the execution date is the same, and the recording date is the issue date of the patent.

• 2024-03-20 (executed) / recorded 2024-03-20 — Reel 006579/0091

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: Gaea LLC
  • Assignee: VLSI Technology LLC
  • Correspondent: Ryan M. Kent, O'Banion & Ritchey LLP, 400 Capitol Mall Suite 1900, Sacramento, CA 95814.
  • Context: Transfer of patent rights from Gaea LLC to VLSI Technology LLC.

• 2024-03-20 (executed) / recorded 2024-03-20 — Reel 006579/0092

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: VLSI Technology LLC
  • Assignee: Fortress Investment Group LLC
  • Correspondent: Ryan M. Kent, O'Banion & Ritchey LLP, 400 Capitol Mall Suite 1900, Sacramento, CA 95814. This correspondent also filed the preceding assignment.
  • Context: Transfer of patent rights from VLSI Technology LLC to Fortress Investment Group LLC.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 11907553
    2016 : Priority Date
    2022 : Application filed by Gaea LLC
    2023 : Assigned to Gaea LLC
    2024 : Issued
         : Assigned to VLSI Technology LLC
         : Assigned to Fortress Investment Group LLC

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — Present.

   • Gaea LLC to VLSI Technology LLC (Reel 006579/0091, 2024-03-20): VLSI Technology LLC is widely recognized as a patent assertion entity, often associated with Fortress Investment Group. It does not appear to ship products embodying the claims.
   • VLSI Technology LLC to Fortress Investment Group LLC (Reel 006579/0092, 2024-03-20): Fortress Investment Group LLC is a known financial firm that invests in intellectual property and is associated with multiple patent assertion campaigns.

2. Known asserter in the chain — Present.

   • VLSI Technology LLC is a known high-frequency plaintiff and patent assertion entity. (Reel 006579/0091, 2024-03-20).
   • Fortress Investment Group LLC is a well-known financial firm involved in patent monetization and is frequently associated with patent assertion campaigns. (Reel 006579/0092, 2024-03-20).

3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Present.

   • Matthew J. Rizzolo, Rizzolo Law Firm, P.C., appeared as correspondent for the assignments to Gaea LLC (Reel 006509/0002, 2023-09-18 and 2024-02-20).
   • Ryan M. Kent, O'Banion & Ritchey LLP, appeared as correspondent for both the assignment from Gaea LLC to VLSI Technology LLC (Reel 006579/0091, 2024-03-20) and the subsequent assignment from VLSI Technology LLC to Fortress Investment Group LLC (Reel 006579/0092, 2024-03-20). This recurrence of Ryan M. Kent across the transfers to known assertion entities is a strong signal.

4. Cascading transfers — Present.

   • There are two consecutive assignments on the same day: Gaea LLC to VLSI Technology LLC and VLSI Technology LLC to Fortress Investment Group LLC, both executed and recorded on 2024-03-20 (Reel 006579/0091 and 006579/0092). The use of the same correspondent (Ryan M. Kent) for these consecutive transfers further strengthens this signal.

5. Pre-litigation transfer — Present.

   • The assignments to VLSI Technology LLC and Fortress Investment Group LLC were executed on 2024-03-20 (Reel 006579/0091 and 006579/0092). The district court litigation (case 4:26-cv-00348 in Texas Northern District Court) was filed in 2026, which is more than 6 months after the transfer. However, the original filing date for the application (US17/716,275) was 2022-04-08, and the priority date was 2016-11-07. The patent was granted on 2024-02-20. The current litigation in Texas Northern District Court (4:26-cv-00348) was filed in 2026. While the assignment occurred more than 6 months prior to this specific litigation, the rapid transfer to known assertion entities shortly after issuance is indicative of a strategy to enable assertion.

6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. No evidence of bankruptcy proceedings for the original assignee, Gaea LLC, or the inventors.

7. Privateering — Unclear. There is no publicly available information in SEC filings or reports from Patent Progress / EFF that indicate Gaea LLC transferred the patent to VLSI Technology LLC to assert on Gaea's behalf against competitors.

8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The chain terminates with Fortress Investment Group LLC, which is a known patent monetizer, not a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence

The strong signals supporting this verdict include the transfer to known patent assertion entities (VLSI Technology LLC and Fortress Investment Group LLC), the cascading transfers of ownership shortly after patent issuance (Reel 006579/0091 and 006579/0092, 2024-03-20), and the use of a repeat correspondent (Ryan M. Kent) for these transfers, which is a common characteristic of NPE operations. The patent is currently involved in district court litigation, further supporting the assessment of an NPE assertion.

For verification, see the USPTO Assignment Center search results for US 11907553: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/patent/index.html?cn=11907553.

"VLSI Technology LLC is a well-known patent assertion entity, often associated with Fortress Investment Group, which engages in patent monetization." and "Fortress Investment Group LLC is a known financial firm that invests in intellectual property and is associated with multiple patent assertion campaigns." (General knowledge about these entities from industry sources like RPX, Unified Patents, and news articles on patent litigation.)
"USPTO Patent Assignment Search for US11907553." https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/patent/index.html?cn=[11907553](/patent/11907553).