Assignment history

Inventors

• Adam J. Cheyer: SRI International Inc.
• David L. Martin: SRI International Inc.

No unusual patterns, such as all inventors departing within 12 months of filing, are immediately determinable from the provided information.

Original assignee

The original assignee named on the issued patent is SRI International Inc.

SRI International is a non-profit research institute that conducts client-sponsored research and development. It has a history of developing various technologies and spinning off companies. Whether they shipped a product directly embodying the claims would require a deeper dive into their productization efforts around "Open Agent Architecture" (OAA) or related technologies at the time. Their primary line of business is scientific research and development. SRI International is currently operating.

Assignment timeline

To reconstruct the full assignment record, I will use the USPTO Assignment Center.

• 1999-01-05 (executed) / recorded 1999-01-05 — Reel 009949/0064
  • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
  • Assignor: CHEYER, ADAM J.; MARTIN, DAVID L.
  • Assignee: SRI INTERNATIONAL
  • Correspondent: N/A
  • Context: Original assignment from inventors to the initial assignee.
• 2016-09-26 (executed) / recorded 2016-10-06 — Reel 038591/0593
  • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST
  • Assignor: SRI INTERNATIONAL
  • Assignee: IPA TECHNOLOGIES INC.
  • Correspondent: WILLIAM S. FULTON, JR.; LAW OFFICE OF WILLIAM FULTON, PC 11300 NORSE WAY, SUITE 100, AUSTIN, TEXAS 78759. This correspondent appears multiple times on other tracked patents on this site.
  • Context: Transfer of patent ownership from the original assignee to a new entity.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 6851115
    1999 : Filed, assigned to SRI International
    2005 : Issued
    2016 : Assigned to IPA Technologies Inc

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — present. Reel 038591/0593, recorded 2016-10-06. The assignee, IPA TECHNOLOGIES INC., has "TECHNOLOGIES INC." in its name. While this isn't definitive, the nature of its litigation activity (as indicated by the Google Patents "Family has litigation" section, showing multiple district court and PTAB cases, some critical, with a petitioner not named) suggests a focus on licensing and assertion rather than product shipment. The prior assignee, SRI International, is a research institute, so a transfer to an entity focused on commercializing or enforcing intellectual property is plausible.
2. Known asserter in the chain — unclear. While IPA TECHNOLOGIES INC. is the current assignee and has been involved in litigation related to this patent, it is not explicitly listed among the provided examples of well-known NPEs like Acacia Research Corp or Marathon Patent Group. However, the litigation records on Google Patents, including numerous PTAB and CAFC cases, suggest an assertion-heavy strategy.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — present. WILLIAM S. FULTON, JR.; LAW OFFICE OF WILLIAM FULTON, PC appears as the correspondent on reel 038591/0593. The instruction notes that this correspondent recurs on other tracked patents on this site, which is a strong signal for an NPE pattern.
4. Cascading transfers — not present. There are only two assignments recorded: the initial assignment from the inventors to SRI International, and then a single subsequent assignment to IPA Technologies Inc. There are no multiple consecutive transfers within a short period.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — unclear. The assignment to IPA Technologies Inc. was recorded on 2016-10-06. The "Family has litigation" section indicates several US district court cases filed in Delaware, with the earliest one linked being 1:18-cv-00001. This case was filed in 2018, which is more than 6 months after the assignment date. However, the litigation data states "First worldwide family litigation filed", implying there might have been earlier litigation not explicitly detailed with a specific date in the provided snippet. Without the exact filing date of the first infringement suit involving this patent, it's hard to definitively say if the transfer was pre-litigation.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. There is no information to suggest that SRI International filed for bankruptcy or that this patent was sold as part of bankruptcy proceedings.
7. Privateering — unclear. No information is available regarding any operating company transferring the patent to an NPE to assert on its behalf against competitors, nor are there any SEC filings or public reports mentioned that would indicate this.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The chain does not end at any known defensive aggregators like RPX, Allied Security Trust, LOT Network, Unified Patents, or Open Invention Network.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence. The presence of a shell-entity transfer to IPA Technologies Inc., combined with the confirmed pattern of a repeat correspondent (WILLIAM S. FULTON, JR.; LAW OFFICE OF WILLIAM FULTON, PC on reel 038591/0593) across this and other tracked patent chains, strongly indicates an NPE assertion model. This is further supported by the extensive litigation history noted in Google Patents, even if specific pre-litigation timing is unclear.

Verification link: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/