Invalidity dossier
US 4589584
Electrical connection for polymeric conductive material
Current assignee: IBM Information Products Corp
Added 9/24/2026, 12:27:12 AM
Active provider: DeepSeek · deepseek-flash
Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
Patent Overview: US4589584A
Title: Electrical connection for polymeric conductive material
Patent number: US4589584A
Application number: US06/696,821
Inventors: Robert A. Christiansen; Frank M. Rose, Jr.; James R. Smith; Kenneth D. Woosley
Original assignee: International Business Machines Corp.
Current assignee (as listed, and noted as possibly inaccurate): IBM Information Products Corp
Priority/filing date: 1985-01-31
Publication (grant) date: 1986-05-20
Legal status (as listed): Expired – Fee Related; anticipated expiration 2005-01-31
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US4589584](/patent/US4589584)/en
Purpose and plain-language scope (as far as the supplied text shows):
The excerpt identifies the invention only by its title and classifications—"Electrical connection for polymeric conductive material." The classification data places it in printed-circuit assembly, specifically "Assembling flexible printed circuits with other printed circuits" (H05K3/361), and in joining of preformed plastic parts, including by heating with or without pressure (B29C65/02) and by ultrasonic vibrations (B29C65/08).
Read together, these classifications indicate the subject matter concerns electrically connecting conductive polymeric material, and joining such material or flexible circuitry to another circuit substrate, potentially using heat and/or ultrasonic vibration and applied pressure. The classification entries also reference lap (overlap) joints, alignment features such as holes or slots, and holding/clamping means cooperating with specially formed features of the parts to be joined. No claim text, abstract, or detailed description is present in the supplied excerpt, so no specific claim scope, element list, or material composition can be stated.
What the excerpt does not establish:
- The actual claims, abstract, or written description.
- The specific structure, materials, or process steps recited.
- The examiner's cited prior art or any validity determination.
- Whether any reassignment, security interest, or status change is legally effective (the source itself disclaims this).
- Any litigation, licensing, or ownership outcome.
Per the source's own notation, dates, assignees, and legal status are assumptions, not legal conclusions, and no legal analysis has been performed.
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:31:57 PM
Cases on file (0)
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Litigation summary
Past and pending lawsuits — plaintiffs, defendants, jurisdictions, outcomes, and notable rulings.
Proceedings on file (0)
All PTAB activity →AIA trial proceedings (IPR / PGR / CBM) filed at the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board against this patent. Sourced from the USPTO Open Data Portal and refreshed every six hours; each proceeding number deep-links to the PTAB E2E docket.
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.