Invalidity dossier
US 12098889
Added 9/23/2026, 6:04:26 PM
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Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
Patent Overview — US12098889B2
Title: Falling film heat exchanger
Patent number: US12098889B2 (application US16/757,337; also published as US20210190432A1)
Assignee/current assignee (as listed): Tyco Fire and Security GmbH; York Wuxi Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Co Ltd. Original assignee: same. The source also records later reassignments (to York (Wuxi) Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Co., Ltd. and Johnson Controls Technology Company; to Johnson Controls Tyco IP Holdings LLP; and to Tyco Fire & Security GmbH). The source notes listed assignees "may be inaccurate."
Key dates: Priority date and filing date: 2017-10-20. Publication of US20210190432A1: 2021-06-24. Granted/publication of US12098889B2: 2024-09-24. Anticipated expiration: 2037-10-20. Legal status listed as "Active."
Inventors: Jeb W. Schreiber, Xiuping Su, Li Wang, Brian Thomas Gallus, Scott Allen Ford, Fang Xue.
Purpose and plain-language scope (from supplied text): The patent concerns a falling film heat exchanger — an apparatus in which a heat-exchange medium flows as a continuous film or trickles freely over conduits (classifications F28D3/00, F28D3/02, F28D3/04, F28D5/00, F28D5/02). Classifications place it as an evaporator (F25B39/00, F25B39/02, F25B39/028, "Evaporators having distributing means") and as a "flooded core heat exchanger" (F28D21/0017), with distributing arrangements for the falling film. The listed prior-art keywords — perforated plate, refrigerant, holes, along, heat exchanger — indicate a perforated-plate refrigerant distributor. Classification F28F9/0278 specifically covers "stacked distribution plates or perforated plates arranged over end plates" for uniformly distributing heat exchange media into conduits, and F28F25/08/F28F25/085 relate to grids or boards converting liquid sprays into films. The source excerpt does not include the claims or detailed description, so the precise claimed structure and scope cannot be stated from it.
What the excerpt does not establish: the literal claim language, the number/arrangement of claims, specific hole geometry, embodiment details, cited prior art, or any legal conclusion on validity or infringement. Classifications, dates, and assignee data are as listed and may be assumptions.
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US12098889](/patent/US12098889)/en
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:43:02 PM
Cases on file (0)
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Litigation summary
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Proceedings on file (0)
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No PTAB proceedings on file. This patent has not been challenged via IPR, PGR, or CBM. The absence is itself a signal — well-asserted patents eventually attract IPRs. The LLM analysis below may surface filings the ODP feed hasn’t indexed yet.
PTAB challenges
AIA trial proceedings at the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board — IPR, PGR, and CBM. Petitioners, judge panels, claim-level invalidation outcomes from Final Written Decisions, and Federal Circuit appeals. The single most important defensive datapoint after litigation history.
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.
Prior art
Earlier patents, publications, and products that may anticipate or render the claims unpatentable.
Obviousness
Combinations of prior art that suggest the claimed invention would have been obvious under 35 U.S.C. § 103.
Extensions
Patent term adjustments, term extensions, continuations, divisionals, family members, and expiration dates.
Derivative works
Defensive disclosure: derivative variations of each claim designed to render future incremental improvements obvious or non-novel.