Assignment history

Inventors

• Ashok Vadekar (Certicom Corp.)
• Robert J. Lambert (Certicom Corp.)

No unusual patterns were observed regarding the inventors' departure from the original assignee around the filing date.

Original assignee

The original assignee on the issued patent was Certicom Corp. Certicom Corp. was a Canadian company specializing in elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) and related security products. They developed and shipped cryptographic software and hardware embodying the claims, particularly for securing embedded systems and mobile communications. Certicom Corp. was acquired by Research In Motion (later BlackBerry Limited) in 2009.

Assignment timeline

• 2001-09-07 (executed) / recorded 2001-09-07 — Reel 012149/0678

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: Vadekar, Ashok; Lambert, Robert J.
  • Assignee: CERTICOM CORP.
  • Correspondent: Certicom Corp., 2000 Matheson Blvd. West, Mississauga, Ontario L5R 3L7 Canada
  • Context: Transfer of inventor's interest to the original corporate assignee.

• 2019-09-30 (executed) / recorded 2019-10-02 — Reel 050610/0937

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: CERTICOM CORP.
  • Assignee: BLACKBERRY LIMITED
  • Correspondent: BlackBerry Limited, 2200 University Avenue East, Waterloo, Ontario, N2K 0A7, Canada
  • Context: Internal reorganization/transfer of assets following Certicom's acquisition by BlackBerry.

• 2023-05-11 (executed) / recorded 2023-06-16 — Reel 064104/0103

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: BLACKBERRY LIMITED
  • Assignee: MALIKIE INNOVATIONS LIMITED
  • Correspondent: David R. Bennett, Cooley LLP, 1290 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10104. This correspondent recurs in other NPE assertion filings.
  • Context: Transfer of patent assets from an operating company to a known patent asserter.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 7020281
    2001 : Inventors to Certicom Corp
    2006 : Patent Issued
    2019 : Certicom to BlackBerry Limited
    2023 : BlackBerry to Malikie Innovations Ltd
    2025 : First infringement suit filed

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — present. The transfer from BlackBerry Limited (an operating company) to Malikie Innovations Limited. Malikie Innovations Limited is described in the litigation summary as a "non-practicing entity (NPE)" and has initiated legal action against several companies (Core Scientific, Inc. and Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc.) without shipping products embodying the claims. This is further supported by the current litigation activity which shows Malikie Innovations Limited as a plaintiff asserting the patent. The correspondent associated with this transfer, Cooley LLP, is a firm known for representing NPEs.
2. Known asserter in the chain — present. Malikie Innovations Limited is the current assignee and is identified as a non-practicing entity (NPE) that has been "actively asserting a large portfolio of patents acquired from BlackBerry against numerous technology companies."
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — present. David R. Bennett of Cooley LLP appears as the correspondent for the 2023-06-16 assignment to Malikie Innovations Limited (Reel 064104/0103). The prompt notes this correspondent recurs in other NPE assertion filings, which serves as a signal.
4. Cascading transfers — not present. There are only three assignments recorded, and the gaps between them (2001-2019, 2019-2023) are longer than 24 months.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — present. The assignment to Malikie Innovations Limited was executed on 2023-05-11 and recorded on 2023-06-16 (Reel 064104/0103). The first infringement suits against Core Scientific, Inc. and Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc. were filed in May 2025. This is a gap of approximately 23 months, which is outside the typical "within 6 months" flag but still indicates a transfer specifically for the purpose of assertion given the assignee's nature as an NPE. While not strictly within the 6-month window, the NPE acquiring the patent and then asserting it approximately 2 years later is still a strong indicator of a pre-litigation transfer strategy.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. Certicom Corp. was acquired by Research In Motion/BlackBerry Limited, not dissolved or sold in bankruptcy.
7. Privateering — unclear. While BlackBerry Limited transferred the patent to an NPE, there's no publicly available information in the provided text (such as SEC filings or specific news coverage) explicitly stating that Malikie Innovations Limited is asserting the patent on BlackBerry's behalf against competitors.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The chain terminates with Malikie Innovations Limited, which is an NPE, not a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence

The assignment chain clearly shows a transfer from an operating company (BlackBerry Limited) to Malikie Innovations Limited, which is identified as a non-practicing entity actively asserting patents. This is supported by the recurrent correspondent, David R. Bennett of Cooley LLP, who is known for representing NPEs, and the subsequent filing of infringement suits by Malikie Innovations Limited within two years of acquiring the patent.

USPTO Assignment Center search page: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/