Assignment history

Inventors

• Spencer A. Rathus (Individual)
• Jeffrey S. Nevid (Individual)
• Lois Fichner-Rathus (Individual)

There is no employer information for the inventors at the time of filing readily available in the patent document or general public records. The original assignee is listed as "Individual," which further suggests the inventors were not affiliated with a large corporate entity that would typically be named as the original assignee.

Original assignee

The original assignee named on the issued patent is "Individual." This typically means the rights were initially retained by the inventors. It is not determinable whether "Individual" shipped a product embodying the claims, nor their primary line of business or current status as an operating entity.

Assignment timeline

• 2007-06-26 (executed) / recorded 2007-07-26 — Reel 019349/0569
  • Conveyance: Assignment of Assignors Interest
  • Assignor: NEVID, JEFFREY S., FICHNER-RATHUS, LOIS, RATHUS, SPENCER A.
  • Assignee: MARSHALL FEATURE RECOGNITION, LLC
  • Correspondent: ROTHWELL, FIGG, ERNST & MANBECK, P.C.
  • Context: Transfer-to-asserter
• 2007-07-31 (executed) / recorded 2007-08-08 — Reel 019441/0088
  • Conveyance: Assignment of Assignors Interest
  • Assignor: MARSHALL FEATURE RECOGNITION, LLC
  • Assignee: MARSHALL ELECTRONICS COMPANY, LLC
  • Correspondent: ROTHWELL, FIGG, ERNST & MANBECK, P.C., 1425 K STREET, N.W., SUITE 800, WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, UNITED STATES. This correspondent recurs in this chain.
  • Context: Internal reorg

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 6164534
    1999 : Filed by Individual Inventors
    2000 : Issued
    2007 : Assigned to Marshall Feature Recognition LLC
    2007 : Assigned to Marshall Electronics Company LLC

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — present. The transfer from individual inventors to "Marshall Feature Recognition, LLC" (Reel 019349/0569) and then to "Marshall Electronics Company, LLC" (Reel 019441/0088) suggests a shell entity structure. Marshall Feature Recognition, LLC, and Marshall Electronics Company, LLC, are identified in the litigation summary as plaintiffs in patent infringement lawsuits and are not known to produce products.
2. Known asserter in the chain — present. Marshall Feature Recognition, LLC and Marshall Electronics Company, LLC are identified in the litigation summary as high-frequency plaintiffs, indicating they are known patent asserters.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — present. ROTHWELL, FIGG, ERNST & MANBECK, P.C. is listed as the correspondent for both recorded assignments (Reel 019349/0569 and Reel 019441/0088).
4. Cascading transfers — present. There are two consecutive assignments within a short period (June 26, 2007, and July 31, 2007).
5. Pre-litigation transfer — present. The assignments to Marshall Feature Recognition, LLC and Marshall Electronics Company, LLC occurred in June and July 2007, respectively. The first litigation case cited (Amazon.com, Inc. 2:07-cv-00342) was filed in August 2007. This falls within 6 months of the transfers.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. No evidence of bankruptcy proceedings for the original inventors or early assignees.
7. Privateering — unclear. While the pattern of transfer to an NPE is clear, there is no public information definitively linking these transfers to an operating company's strategic assertion against competitors on its behalf.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The chain does not end with a known defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence. This verdict is supported by multiple strong signals: the transfer from individuals to known patent asserters (Marshall Feature Recognition, LLC and Marshall Electronics Company, LLC) through shell-entity transfers, the recurrence of the same correspondent attorney across these transfers, and the timing of these transfers immediately preceding the commencement of infringement litigation in August 2007. This pattern strongly indicates a classic NPE assertion strategy.

USPTO Assignment Center search for US6164534: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/