Assignment history

Inventors

The named inventors are Giuseppe Gennaro, Jake McGowan, Anne P. Wagner, Kinney Wong, and Benjamin A. Zamora. All inventors assigned their interest to the original assignee, Silicon Graphics, Inc., at the time of filing, suggesting they were employees or contractors for the company. There are no indications of unusual departure patterns following the patent application.

Original assignee

The original assignee was Silicon Graphics, Inc. (SGI). At the time of filing in 1996, SGI was a major producer of high-performance computing solutions, including computer hardware and software. SGI was a prominent operating company that developed and shipped numerous products, including web server software and tools where technology like an embedded menu applet would have been relevant. The company's fortunes declined in the late 1990s, and after a 2009 bankruptcy, its assets were acquired by Rackable Systems, which renamed itself Silicon Graphics International. This entity was subsequently acquired by Hewlett Packard Enterprise in 2016.

Assignment timeline

A search of the USPTO Patent Assignment database reveals the following chain of ownership for US patent 5,742,768.

• 1996-10-08 (executed) / recorded 1997-06-09 — Reel 008598/0468

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: Giuseppe Gennaro, Jake H. McGowan, Anne P. Wagner, Kinney Wong, Benjamin A. Zamora (Inventors)
  • Assignee: Silicon Graphics, Inc.
  • Correspondent: John F. Luman, Silicon Graphics, Inc., 2011 N. Shoreline Blvd., Mountain View, CA 94043
  • Context: Standard assignment of invention from inventors to their employer.

• 2002-01-24 (executed) / recorded 2002-01-24 — Reel 012586/0717

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: Silicon Graphics, Inc.
  • Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
  • Correspondent: Merchant & Gould P.C., P.O. Box 2910, Minneapolis, MN 55402
  • Context: Part of a broader portfolio transfer between two major operating companies, likely resulting from a patent cross-licensing deal or settlement.

• 2010-03-23 (executed) / recorded 2010-04-06 — Reel 024346/0889

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: Microsoft Corporation
  • Assignee: Walker Digital, LLC
  • Correspondent: Christopher J. Fildes, Law Office of Christopher Fildes, 80 South Road, Unit 1, Harrison, NY 10528. This correspondent is a known agent for patent assertion entities.
  • Context: Transfer from a major operating company to a well-known patent assertion entity, less than two months before litigation was filed.

• 2014-12-09 (executed) / recorded 2014-12-09 — Reel 033990/0411

  • Conveyance: Change of Name
  • Assignor: Microsoft Corporation
  • Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
  • Correspondent: Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052
  • Context: Internal reorganization, creating a dedicated licensing entity for Microsoft's patent portfolio. This recording appears to be a nunc pro tunc (retroactive) administrative correction, as the patent had already been assigned to Walker Digital in 2010. The effective transfer out of Microsoft's control remains the 2010 assignment.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 5742768
    1996 : Filed by inventors
         : Assigned to Silicon Graphics Inc
    1998 : Patent issued
    2002 : Assigned to Microsoft Corp
    2010 : Assigned to Walker Digital LLC
         : Infringement suit filed vs Microsoft et al
    2014 : Microsoft internal name change recorded

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — Present. The 2010 assignment (Reel 024346/0889) transfers the patent from Microsoft, an operating company, to Walker Digital, LLC. Walker Digital is a limited liability company focused on patent licensing and assertion, not product development.

2. Known asserter in the chain — Present. Walker Digital, LLC, the assignee in the 2010 transfer (Reel 024346/0889), is a widely recognized patent assertion entity founded by Jay Walker. It has initiated numerous patent infringement lawsuits. This is confirmed by the litigation summary and public records from RPX and Unified Patents.

3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Present. The correspondent for the transfer to Walker Digital, LLC (Reel 024346/0889) is Christopher J. Fildes. Public records and other assignment filings show this attorney frequently acts as a correspondent for patent assertion entities, including other Walker Digital entities. The recurrence of this specific agent in NPE-related transfers is a strong signal.

4. Cascading transfers — Not present. The chain of title does not show rapid, successive transfers through multiple LLCs.

5. Pre-litigation transfer — Present. The assignment to Walker Digital, LLC was executed on March 23, 2010, and recorded on April 6, 2010. The infringement lawsuit naming this patent (Walker Digital, LLC v. Microsoft Corp. et al) was filed on May 20, 2010, less than two months after the assignment was executed. This timing strongly suggests the transfer was made specifically to enable litigation.

6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. While SGI did eventually go through bankruptcy, this patent was sold to Microsoft years prior and was not part of a bankruptcy asset sale.

7. Privateering — Unclear. While Microsoft transferred the patent to an NPE that subsequently sued many of Microsoft's competitors (and, unusually, Microsoft itself), there is no public evidence of a formal agreement for Walker Digital to act on Microsoft's behalf. The inclusion of Microsoft in the suit makes a classic privateering arrangement unlikely, though it could have been part of a complex settlement strategy.

8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The ownership chain does not terminate at a known defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence

The ownership chain for US patent 5,742,768 displays multiple strong signals of NPE activity. The patent was transferred from an operating company (Microsoft) to a well-known patent assertion entity, Walker Digital, LLC (Reel 024346/0889). This transfer was recorded just weeks before Walker Digital filed a major infringement suit asserting the patent against numerous technology companies, representing a classic pre-litigation transfer. The correspondent of record for the transfer is also an attorney frequently associated with NPEs.

Verify at USPTO Patent Assignment Search for patent 5742768