Invalidity dossier
US 7099304
Apparatus, methods and systems for anonymous communication
Current assignee: Flexiworld Technologies Inc
Added 9/17/2026, 2:27:03 PM
Active provider: DeepSeek · deepseek-flash
Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
Patent Overview: US7099304B2
Title: Apparatus, methods and systems for anonymous communication
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US7099304](/patent/US7099304)/en
Bibliographic data (per supplied text):
- Patent number: US7099304B2
- Application number: US09/947,116
- Filing date: 2001-09-04
- Priority date (stated as an assumption, not a legal conclusion): 2000-09-05
- Publication date: 2006-08-29
- Inventors: Christina Ying Liu; William Ho Chang
- Original/current assignee listed: Flexiworld Technologies Inc
- Legal status: Ceased, with an adjusted expiration of 2024-04-30
- Classification: H04M3/42 (systems for anonymous communication between parties, e.g. by use of disposal contact identifiers), among others
Purpose and plain-language scope (only as supported by the excerpt):
The patent concerns anonymous communication. The classification indicates systems providing anonymous communication between parties, for example through disposable contact identifiers. The prior-art keywords listed are "station," "communication," "party," "reference code," and "transaction," suggesting embodiments in which a party communicates via a reference code rather than revealing direct identity details. The listed classifications also cover telephonic exchanges, authorization-code arrangements, digital voice transmission over IP networks, and telephone services combined with data services such as instant messaging and electronic mail. The excerpt states that "the Internet is a collection of computer networks from which users obtain and share information"; other definitions are cut off.
What the excerpt does not establish:
The supplied text is an excerpt and omits the abstract, claims, and description ("consult the source for omitted text"). It does not permit a reliable statement of independent claim scope, specific apparatus components, or method steps beyond the keywords and classifications above. It does not establish the exact priority basis, the number or content of claims, or the scope of intervening family members (the listed reissue/continuation applications are only referenced as priority links, not described here). Per instruction, this overview does not address litigation, ownership transfers, validity, or prior art, and includes no facts beyond those supplied.
Generated 10/1/2026, 10:03:06 PM
Cases on file (0)
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Litigation summary
Past and pending lawsuits — plaintiffs, defendants, jurisdictions, outcomes, and notable rulings.
Proceedings on file (0)
All PTAB activity →AIA trial proceedings (IPR / PGR / CBM) filed at the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board against this patent. Sourced from the USPTO Open Data Portal and refreshed every six hours; each proceeding number deep-links to the PTAB E2E docket.
No PTAB proceedings on file. This patent has not been challenged via IPR, PGR, or CBM. The absence is itself a signal — well-asserted patents eventually attract IPRs. The LLM analysis below may surface filings the ODP feed hasn’t indexed yet.
PTAB challenges
AIA trial proceedings at the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board — IPR, PGR, and CBM. Petitioners, judge panels, claim-level invalidation outcomes from Final Written Decisions, and Federal Circuit appeals. The single most important defensive datapoint after litigation history.
Assignment history
Inventors, original assignee, and the chain of ownership recorded with the USPTO — including the correspondent attorney who recorded each assignment, since shell-LLC chains often share one repeat-player attorney even when the entity names look unrelated. Surfaces NPE / patent-troll patterns: shell-entity transfers, known asserters in the chain, repeat correspondent fingerprints, pre-litigation assignments, and bankruptcy fire-sales.
Prior art
Earlier patents, publications, and products that may anticipate or render the claims unpatentable.
Obviousness
Combinations of prior art that suggest the claimed invention would have been obvious under 35 U.S.C. § 103.
Extensions
Patent term adjustments, term extensions, continuations, divisionals, family members, and expiration dates.
Derivative works
Defensive disclosure: derivative variations of each claim designed to render future incremental improvements obvious or non-novel.