Assignment history

Inventors

• Shyh-Fann Ting
• Cheng-Tung Huang
• Wen-Han Hung
• Li-Shian Jeng
• Kun-Hsien Lee
• Tzyy-Ming Cheng
• Jing-Chang Wu
• Tzermin Shen

All inventors assigned their rights to their employer, United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC), at the time of the invention. There is no public information to suggest an unusual pattern of inventor departures from UMC following the application filing.

Original assignee

The original assignee of record is United Microelectronics Corp., a major, publicly-traded semiconductor foundry company headquartered in Hsinchu, Taiwan. UMC is a large-scale operating company that manufactures integrated circuits for other companies. It is still a major global foundry and is not in bankruptcy. The technologies described in the patent, relating to strained silicon in MOS transistors, are directly relevant to UMC's core business of advanced semiconductor fabrication.

Assignment timeline

• 2006-04-03 (executed) / 2006-04-07 (recorded) — Reel 017778/0381
  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: Shyh-Fann Ting; Cheng-Tung Huang; Wen-Han Hung; Li-Shian Jeng; Kun-Hsien Lee; Tzyy-Ming Cheng; Jing-Chang Wu; Tzermin Shen
  • Assignee: United Microelectronics Corp.
  • Correspondent: Patterson & Sheridan, L.L.P., Houston, TX
  • Context: Standard assignment of inventor rights to their employer at the time of patent application filing.
• 2021-06-18 (executed) / 2021-07-26 (recorded) — Reel 056991/0292
  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: United Microelectronics Corporation
  • Assignee: Marlin Semiconductor Limited
  • Correspondent: Michael T. Reller, Reller & Company, S.C., Middleton, WI 53562
  • Context: Transfer from the original operating company to an Irish entity, likely for monetization and assertion.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 7288822
    2006 : Application filed by UMC
    2007 : Patent issued to UMC
    2021 : Assigned to Marlin Semiconductor
    2026 : IPR filed by Unified Patents

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — Present. The patent was transferred from United Microelectronics Corp., a large operating semiconductor manufacturer, to Marlin Semiconductor Limited, an entity registered in Ireland with no apparent products. This transfer (Reel 056991/0292) moves the patent from a practicing entity to a non-practicing one.

2. Known asserter in the chain — Present. The current assignee, Marlin Semiconductor Limited, is the patent owner of record in a recent PTAB proceeding (IPR2026-00058) initiated by Unified Patents. Unified Patents is a defensive organization whose primary activity is challenging patents being asserted by NPEs. This action confirms Marlin Semiconductor is actively asserting the patent portfolio it acquired from UMC.

3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Not present. The two recorded assignments list different correspondents. The initial inventor assignment was handled by Patterson & Sheridan, a large law firm representing UMC. The transfer to Marlin was recorded by Reller & Company, S.C. A single recording is insufficient to establish a pattern.

4. Cascading transfers — Not present. The patent was transferred only once after issuance, directly from the original assignee to the current assignee.

5. Pre-litigation transfer — Not present. The assignment to Marlin Semiconductor was executed in June 2021 (recorded in July 2021). The first publicly noted assertion activity is the IPR filed in 2026. This a gap of over four years, well outside the typical <6 month window that signals an imminent lawsuit.

6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. The assignor, UMC, is a financially healthy and operating company.

7. Privateering — Unclear. It is possible that UMC transferred this patent to Marlin as a vehicle to assert against UMC's competitors without directly engaging in litigation itself. However, without public information on the relationship between UMC and Marlin or a clear target list for the litigation, this cannot be confirmed.

8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The patent is held by an assertion entity. A defensive aggregator, Unified Patents, is actively challenging the patent's validity, indicating it is on the opposite side of the transaction.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence

The verdict is based on two strong signals. The patent was transferred from a major operating company (UMC) to Marlin Semiconductor Limited, an Irish entity with no evidence of commercial products, which is a classic shell-entity transfer (Reel 056991/0292). Furthermore, Marlin Semiconductor is confirmed to be an assertion entity, as evidenced by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board case IPR2026-00058 filed against this patent by the defensive organization Unified Patents.

A live search of the USPTO's assignment database can be performed here: USPTO Patent Assignment Search