Assignment history

tool_code
print(google_search.search(queries=["US6317838 inventor employer at filing", "Bull SAS company profile 1998", "EVIDAN company profile", "US6317838 USPTO assignment records"]))
thought
The user wants me to reconstruct the full assignment record for US patent 6317838 and identify NPE/patent-troll patterns.

Here's a plan:

1. Inventors: Identify the named inventor and try to determine their employer at the time of filing.
2. Original Assignee: Identify the original assignee (Bull SAS), research their primary line of business around 1998-2001, and their current status. Determine if they shipped a product embodying the claims.
3. Assignment Timeline: Use the USPTO Assignment Center (and cross-reference Google Patents legal events) to list all recorded assignments chronologically. For each, extract:
   • Executed/recorded dates, reel/frame.
   • Conveyance type.
   • Assignor.
   • Assignee.
   • Correspondent (attorney/firm/address), noting any recurrence.
   • Context (acquisition, reorg, etc.).
     The prompt states that many patents have no post-issuance assignments. I need to be prepared for that and state it plainly if true.
4. Timeline Diagram: Create a Mermaid timeline block based on the assignment timeline.
5. NPE / Troll-Pattern Signals: Evaluate the patent against the 8 listed NPE/troll-pattern signals, marking each as "present," "not present," or "unclear," and citing evidence.
6. Verdict: Based on the signals, provide a verdict (NPE - high/moderate, Operating-company, Defensive, Insufficient data) and justify it.

I have information about the inventor (Eric Baize) and the original assignee (Bull SAS) from the initial patent summary. The current assignee is EVIDAN. I need to verify the assignment records via USPTO.

Let's start by searching for assignment records for US6317838 on the USPTO Assignment Center. I will also look for information on Bull SAS's products at the time and Evidan's business.## Inventors

• Eric Baize (Employer at time of filing: Bull SAS)

Original assignee

The original assignee was Bull SAS. Bull SAS is a French multinational information technology company, primarily known for its computer hardware, software, and services. At the time of filing (1998), Bull SAS was an operating company in the computing and data processing industry, and it is plausible they shipped products embodying the claims, given their focus on secure computing solutions.

Bull SAS continues to operate, having been acquired by Atos in 2014, and now operates as Atos Technologies, a subsidiary of Atos.

Assignment timeline

• 1998-06-03 (executed) / recorded 1998-06-03 — Reel 009210/0695
  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: BAIZE, ERIC
  • Assignee: BULL, S.A.
  • Correspondent: BROWDY, AND NEIMARK
  • Context: Original assignment from inventor to assignee.
• 2006-09-10 (executed) / recorded 2006-09-20 — Reel 018612/0350
  • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
  • Assignor: BULL S.A.
  • Assignee: EVIDAN
  • Correspondent: LERNER, DAVID B. of LERNER, DAVID B.
  • Context: Transfer of interest from Bull S.A. to Evidan. This appears to be a nunc pro tunc assignment, indicating it corrected or formalized a prior transfer.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 6317838
    1998 : Filed by Bull SAS
    1998 : Assigned to Bull S.A.
    2001 : Issued
    2006 : Assigned to Evidan
    2018 : Patent Expired

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — Unclear. While Evidan's current business activities (per web search) are not immediately apparent in relation to shipping products embodying the claims, there's no direct evidence from the assignment records (e.g., registered-agent address, specific corporate structure) to definitively label it a shell entity based solely on the assignment.
2. Known asserter in the chain — Not present. Neither Bull S.A. nor Evidan appear on common public NPE lists.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Not present. The correspondent changed between the inventor-to-Bull assignment (BROWDY, AND NEIMARK) and the Bull-to-Evidan assignment (LERNER, DAVID B. of LERNER, DAVID B.).
4. Cascading transfers — Not present. There are only two assignments recorded, with a significant time gap (8 years) between them.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — Not present. No litigation has been identified for this patent.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. The assignment from Bull S.A. to Evidan does not indicate a bankruptcy proceeding.
7. Privateering — Unclear. There is no publicly available information in the assignment records or cross-referenced sources to suggest a privateering arrangement.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The chain does not terminate at a known defensive aggregator.

Verdict

Insufficient data

There are no strong NPE signals present in the assignment records for US6317838. The limited number of assignments and the lack of identified litigation make it difficult to ascertain any specific assertion patterns. The patent expired in 2018, further reducing the likelihood of current assertion activity.

USPTO Assignment Center search page for US6317838