Assignment history

Inventors

• Claudio R. Ballard: The sole inventor listed on the patent. At the time of filing (August 27, 1997), Ballard's direct employer is not explicitly stated in the patent document itself. However, he is the assignor of the patent to CSP Holdings, L.L.C. in an assignment executed on March 5, 1998, suggesting he was the principal or founder of the entity that would become the original assignee. There are no unusual patterns, such as a mass departure of inventors, as Ballard is the only one named.

Original assignee

The original assignee listed on the face of the issued patent is CSP Holdings Inc. The legal events timeline provided by Google Patents, sourced from USPTO records, indicates the application was initially filed by CSP Holdings Inc. and subsequently assigned to CSP HOLDINGS, L.L.C. by the inventor.

This entity, which evolved into DataTreasury Corporation, did not appear to ship a commercial product embodying the claims. Its primary line of business was patent licensing and enforcement, as evidenced by the extensive litigation history starting in the early 2000s. DataTreasury Corporation is still operating, primarily as a patent assertion entity.

Assignment timeline

• 1998-03-05 (executed) / recorded 1998-05-18 — Reel 009187/0890

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: Claudio R. Ballard
  • Assignee: CSP Holdings, L.L.C.
  • Correspondent: Richard M. Saccocio, The Saccocio Law Firm, P.C., Melville, NY
  • Context: Transfer from the sole inventor to his holding company, formalizing ownership prior to issuance.

• 2002-06-21 (executed) / recorded 2002-06-24 — Reel 012975/0436

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: CSP Holdings, L.L.C.
  • Assignee: DataTreasury Corporation
  • Correspondent: Richard M. Saccocio, The Saccocio Law Firm, P.C., Melville, NY. This is the same correspondent as the previous assignment.
  • Context: An internal transfer likely associated with a change of name or corporate structure, consolidating the patent under the entity name that would be used for assertion. This transfer occurred shortly before the first major wave of litigation began in 2002.

• 2003-07-28 (executed) / recorded 2003-08-08 — Reel 014238/0340

  • Conveyance: Security Agreement ("Assignment of Interest and Lien Against Enforcement Actions")
  • Assignor: DataTreasury Corporation
  • Assignee: Shore Deary, L.L.P.
  • Correspondent: Paul J. Skiermont, Shore Deary, LLP, Dallas, TX
  • Context: A securitization agreement where DataTreasury granted its litigation counsel, Shore Deary, a security interest in the patent, likely as part of a financing arrangement for the ongoing litigation campaign. Subsequently, this assignment was disclaimed.

• 2003-09-17 (executed) / recorded 2003-09-22 — Reel 014352/0970

  • Conveyance: Release ("Disclaimer of Assignment")
  • Assignor: DataTreasury Corporation
  • Assignee: Shore Deary, L.L.P.
  • Correspondent: Paul J. Skiermont, Shore Deary, LLP, Dallas, TX
  • Context: A release and disclaimer of the previously recorded security interest, returning full unencumbered title to DataTreasury Corporation.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 5910988
    1997 : Application filed by CSP Holdings Inc
    1998 : Assigned to CSP Holdings LLC
    1999 : Patent Issued
    2002 : Assigned to DataTreasury Corp
         : First major infringement suits filed
    2003 : Security interest to Shore Deary LLP
         : Security interest released
    2006 : Litigation vs Wells Fargo et al
    2013 : New wave of litigation filed

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer: present. The transfer from CSP Holdings, L.L.C. to DataTreasury Corporation (Reel 012975/0436) represents a move to an entity whose sole public purpose was patent assertion. DataTreasury did not commercialize products embodying the patent; its business model was exclusively litigation and licensing, funded by the patents themselves.

2. Known asserter in the chain: present. DataTreasury Corporation is a widely recognized and prolific patent assertion entity. It is listed as such by industry trackers like Unified Patents and RPX. The provided litigation summary confirms its extensive history of suing a vast number of banks and technology companies over more than a decade.

3. Repeat correspondent across the chain: present. Richard M. Saccocio of The Saccocio Law Firm acted as the correspondent for both the initial transfer from the inventor (Reel 009187/0890) and the subsequent transfer to the assertion entity, DataTreasury Corporation (Reel 012975/0436). This indicates a consistent legal hand guiding the patent's ownership structure for the purpose of assertion.

4. Cascading transfers: not present. The transfers are linear and purposeful rather than rapidly cascaded through a chain of shell LLCs.

5. Pre-litigation transfer: present. The assignment to DataTreasury Corporation was executed on June 21, 2002 (Reel 012975/0436). The litigation summary notes that the first major lawsuits were filed in 2002, placing the transfer of the patent to the named plaintiff immediately before the assertion campaign began.

6. Bankruptcy fire-sale: not present. The original assignee did not go through bankruptcy; it evolved into the assertion entity.

7. Privateering: not present. This is not a case of an operating company offloading a patent to an NPE for assertion. The inventor and original assignee appear to have created the assertion vehicle themselves.

8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE): not present. The chain of title does not end at any known defensive aggregator. The patent has remained with the assertion entity.

Verdict

• NPE — high confidence

DataTreasury Corporation is a well-documented patent assertion entity with no known commercial products. The assignment history for US Patent 5,910,988 exhibits multiple strong signals of NPE activity, including the transfer to a known asserter (DataTreasury Corp., per Reel 012975/0436), the use of a repeat correspondent to structure ownership (Richard M. Saccocio), and a transfer dated immediately prior to the first wave of widespread litigation in 2002.

Verification link: USPTO Patent Assignment Search for Pat. No. 5910988