Assignment history

Inventors

• James P. Sotiroff: Employer not determinable from the patent document.
• Gerald W. Walden: Employer not determinable from the patent document.

Original assignee

The original assignee was Student Housing Network. Based on the patent title and abstract, their primary line of business appears to be providing a system and method for listing and locating housing, specifically tailored for geographic-specific searches, like student housing. Their current status is "STUDENT HOUSING NETWORK Inc FORMERLY KNOWN AS SH NETWORK Inc" as the current assignee, which implies they are still operating, potentially under a changed name or corporate structure.

Assignment timeline

• 1996-01-29 (executed) / recorded 1996-01-29 — Reel 007693/0942
  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: James P. Sotiroff, Gerald W. Walden
  • Assignee: Student Housing Network
  • Correspondent: Price, Heneveld, Cooper, De Witt & Litton (Grand Rapids, MI).
  • Context: Original assignment from inventors to the initial assignee.
• 1999-05-27 (executed) / recorded 1999-05-27 — Reel 010074/0616
  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: SHN, L.L.C. FORMERLY KNOWN AS STUDENT HOUSING NETWORK, L.L.C.
  • Assignee: STUDENT HOUSING NETWORK, INC., FORMERLY KNOWN AS S.H. NETWORK, INC.
  • Correspondent: Howard & Howard Attorneys, P.C. (Kalamazoo, MI).
  • Context: Internal reorganization / change of name.
• 1999-05-27 (executed) / recorded 1999-05-27 — Reel 010074/0617
  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: STUDENT HOUSING NETWORK
  • Assignee: STUDENT HOUSING NETWORK, INC., FORMERLY KNOWN AS S.H. NETWORK, INC.
  • Correspondent: Howard & Howard Attorneys, P.C. (Kalamazoo, MI). This correspondent also appeared on reel 010074/0616.
  • Context: Internal reorganization / change of name.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 5852810
    1996 : Assigned to Student Housing Network
    1998 : Issued
    1999 : Assigned to Student Housing Network Inc (reorg)
         : Assigned to Student Housing Network Inc (reorg)
    2016 : Patent expired

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — Not present. The assignments recorded appear to be internal reorganizations or name changes of the original operating company, "Student Housing Network" to "Student Housing Network, Inc." or "SHN, L.L.C.". There is no indication of transfer to an entity with typical shell-entity naming conventions (e.g., "IP," "Licensing") or a registered-agent address as the primary place of business.

2. Known asserter in the chain — Not present. None of the assignees (Student Housing Network, SHN, L.L.C., or STUDENT HOUSING NETWORK, INC.) are recognized on common NPE lists.

3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Present. Howard & Howard Attorneys, P.C. (Kalamazoo, MI) appears as the correspondent for two consecutive assignments on reels 010074/0616 and 010074/0617, both executed and recorded on 1999-05-27.

4. Cascading transfers — Present. There are two consecutive assignments recorded on the same date (1999-05-27) to the same assignee, related to a change of name/reorganization, as indicated by reels 010074/0616 and 010074/0617. While not a typical NPE cascading transfer to different entities, it shows multiple transfers in a short period.

5. Pre-litigation transfer — Not present. There is no indication of any litigation associated with this patent.

6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. There is no information to suggest the original assignee or any subsequent assignee went through bankruptcy proceedings that resulted in the sale of this patent.

7. Privateering — Unclear. There is no information available from the assignment records or the patent itself to suggest privateering activity.

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

Verdict

Insufficient data. While there are instances of repeat correspondents and cascading transfers related to internal corporate reorganization (Reel 010074/0616 and 010074/0617), there is no evidence of transfer to a shell entity or a known patent asserter. Therefore, based solely on the assignment records, there is insufficient data to definitively label this patent as being involved in NPE activity.

USPTO Assignment Center search page: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/patent/index.html