Assignment history

Inventors

• Lawrence B. Lockwood: The sole named inventor. The patent's bibliographic data indicates the original assignee was "Individual," suggesting Mr. Lockwood held the patent in his own name upon grant and was not employed by an entity to which he was obligated to assign it.

Original assignee

The original assignee listed on the face of the issued patent is Individual. This means the patent rights were initially held by the inventor, Lawrence B. Lockwood. There is no evidence that a commercial product embodying the claims was ever developed or sold by the inventor acting in his individual capacity.

Assignment timeline

A complete chain of ownership has been recorded with the USPTO.

• 2003-11-20 (executed) / recorded 2003-12-08 — Reel 014801/0088

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: Lawrence B. Lockwood
  • Assignee: PanIP, LLC
  • Correspondent: Constantine G. Marantidis, Marantidis & Shore, Encino, CA.
  • Context: The inventor's initial transfer to a newly formed holding company, which preceded the first major litigation campaign.

• 2008-01-28 (executed) / recorded 2008-05-12 — Reel 021239/0712

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: PanIP, LLC
  • Assignee: Pangea Intellectual Properties, LLC
  • Correspondent: Constantine G. Marantidis, Marantidis & Shore, Encino, CA. This is the same correspondent as the previous and all subsequent recordings.
  • Context: An internal transfer between two entities associated with the inventor, formalizing the name of the assertion entity.

• 2008-07-28 (executed) / recorded 2009-03-31 — Reel 022839/0172

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: Pangea Intellectual Properties, LLC
  • Assignee: Landmark Technology, LLC
  • Correspondent: Constantine G. Marantidis, Marantidis & Shore, LLP, Encino, CA.
  • Context: Transfer to a new primary assertion entity, Landmark Technology, which initiated an even larger wave of litigation.

• 2017-06-30 (executed) / recorded 2017-07-06 — Reel 046313/0545

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: Landmark Technology, LLC
  • Assignee: Landmark Technology A, LLC
  • Correspondent: Constantine G. Marantidis, Marantidis & Shore LLP, Encino, CA.
  • Context: The first in a series of cascading transfers to sequentially-named holding companies.

• 2019-12-31 (executed) / recorded 2020-03-05 — Reel 052402/0833

  • Conveyance: Nunc Pro Tunc Assignment
  • Assignor: Landmark Technology A, LLC
  • Assignee: Landmark Technology B, LLC
  • Correspondent: Constantine G. Marantidis, Marantidis & Shore LLP, Encino, CA.
  • Context: Continuation of the internal cascading transfers for portfolio management.

• 2020-07-01 (executed) / recorded 2020-08-04 — Reel 054124/0746

  • Conveyance: Assignment of Patents
  • Assignor: Landmark Technology B, LLC
  • Assignee: Landmark Technology C, LLC
  • Correspondent: Constantine G. Marantidis, Marantidis & Shore, LLP, Encino, CA.
  • Context: Continuation of the internal cascading transfers for portfolio management.

• 2021-08-31 (executed) / recorded 2021-09-02 — Reel 058349/0906

  • Conveyance: Assignment of Patents
  • Assignor: Landmark Technology C, LLC
  • Assignee: Landmark Technology D, LLC
  • Correspondent: Constantine G. Marantidis, Marantidis & Shore, LLP, Encino, CA.
  • Context: The most recent recorded transfer, continuing the pattern of moving the patent between related shell entities.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 6289319
    2001 : Issued to inventor L. Lockwood
    2003 : Assigned to PanIP LLC
    2008 : Assigned to Pangea IP LLC
         : Assigned to Landmark Technology LLC
    2017 : Assigned to Landmark Technology A LLC
    2019 : Assigned to Landmark Technology B LLC
    2020 : Assigned to Landmark Technology C LLC
    2021 : Assigned to Landmark Technology D LLC

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer: Present. The patent was moved from the individual inventor to a series of Nevada limited liability companies with names indicative of patent-holding purposes (PanIP, LLC; Pangea Intellectual Properties, LLC; Landmark Technology, LLC; etc.). These transfers, beginning with the assignment recorded at Reel 014801/0088, move the patent away from its creator and into vehicles designed for assertion.

2. Known asserter in the chain: Present. As documented in the litigation summary and by public sources like RPX and Unified Patents, Pangea Intellectual Properties, LLC and Landmark Technology, LLC are well-known, high-volume patent assertion entities. Their appearance in the chain (Reels 021239/0712 and 022839/0172, respectively) is a definitive signal.

3. Repeat correspondent across the chain: Present. Attorney Constantine G. Marantidis of Marantidis & Shore LLP is the correspondent of record for every single assignment in the chain of title, from the first transfer in 2003 (Reel 014801/0088) to the most recent in 2021 (Reel 058349/0906). This consistency of legal representation across two decades and multiple sequentially-named LLCs is an exceptionally strong indicator of a centrally-managed licensing and assertion campaign.

4. Cascading transfers: Present. The series of assignments from Landmark Technology, LLC → Landmark Technology A, LLC → B, LLC → C, LLC → D, LLC (Reels 046313/0545 through 058349/0906) is a clear pattern of cascading transfers. This strategy is often used by assertion entities for accounting, legal, or strategic purposes while keeping the portfolio under common control.

5. Pre-litigation transfer: Present. The November 2003 transfer to PanIP, LLC (Reel 014801/0088) preceded the extensive litigation campaign by Pangea IP in the 2000s. The July 2008 transfer to Landmark Technology, LLC (Reel 022839/0172) directly preceded the start of Landmark's even more prolific assertion campaign around 2008.

6. Bankruptcy fire-sale: Not present. The assignment chain originates with the inventor, not a bankrupt operating company.

7. Privateering: Not present. The patent was not transferred from an operating company to be asserted on its behalf.

8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE): Not present. The chain of title does not include any known defensive aggregators. The patent remains controlled by an assertion-focused entity.

Verdict

• NPE — high confidence

This verdict is based on the presence of at least five strong, unambiguous signals in the USPTO assignment record. The patent was transferred from the inventor into a series of shell LLCs (Reel 014801/0088), including known high-volume asserters Pangea IP and Landmark Technology (Reel 022839/0172). The entire chain of assignments over 18 years was handled by a single, recurring correspondent, and the patent was cascaded through multiple sequentially-named LLCs (Reels 046313/0545 onward), all classic hallmarks of a sophisticated and long-running patent assertion campaign.

The full assignment history can be verified at the USPTO Patent Assignment Search page for US Patent 6,289,319.