Assignment history

Inventors

The sole named inventor for U.S. Patent 7,398,723 is Brian A. Blakley. At the time of filing on April 25, 2003, Brian A. Blakley was listed as an individual, and no employer was specified. The patent was originally assigned to the individual inventor.

Original assignee

The entity named on the issued patent is Brian A. Blakley, an individual. There is no information available in the patent text or public records to determine if Brian A. Blakley, as an individual, shipped a product embodying the claims or his primary line of business. The current assignee of record is ABC IP, LLC.

Assignment timeline

• 2022-05-22 (executed) / recorded 2022-05-26 — Reel 060028/0185
  • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT
  • Assignor: BLAKLEY, BRIAN A.
  • Assignee: ABC IP, LLC
  • Correspondent: ALVIN S. BLAKLEY, P.C., 468 S. MAIN ST., SUITE 304, POCATELLO, ID 83204.
  • Context: transfer-to-asserter, as ABC IP, LLC subsequently filed infringement lawsuits involving this patent.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 7398723
    2003 : Filed by Brian A. Blakley
    2008 : Issued to Brian A. Blakley
    2022 : Assigned to ABC IP LLC
    2025 : First assertion by ABC IP LLC

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — Present. The patent was transferred from an individual inventor, Brian A. Blakley, to ABC IP, LLC on 2022-05-22 (Reel 060028/0185). The assignee's name, "ABC IP, LLC," suggests a focus on intellectual property licensing or assertion rather than product manufacturing.

2. Known asserter in the chain — Present. ABC IP, LLC is listed as the plaintiff in multiple infringement lawsuits related to this patent, filed in 2025. This activity identifies ABC IP, LLC as an active patent asserter.

3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Not present. Only one assignment record is present in this patent's chain, so no recurrence across the chain can be observed. The correspondent, ALVIN S. BLAKLEY, P.C., is not flagged as a repeat player across other tracked patents in this context.

4. Cascading transfers — Not present. Only one assignment is recorded for this patent, therefore, no multiple consecutive transfers are observed.

5. Pre-litigation transfer — Not present. The assignment to ABC IP, LLC was executed on 2022-05-22 and recorded on 2022-05-26 (Reel 060028/0185). The first recorded infringement suits where ABC IP, LLC is the plaintiff occurred in 2025, which is more than six months after the assignment date.

6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. There is no indication in the provided patent text or assignment records of the original assignee or any subsequent assignor filing for bankruptcy.

7. Privateering — Unclear. The original assignor was an individual, not an operating company, so there is no direct evidence of an operating company transferring the patent to an NPE to assert on its behalf.

8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. ABC IP, LLC is actively asserting the patent, not acquiring it for defensive purposes.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence

This verdict is based on the clear presence of a shell-entity transfer from the individual inventor to ABC IP, LLC (Reel 060028/0185, executed 2022-05-22) and the fact that ABC IP, LLC has been identified as a plaintiff actively asserting this patent in multiple infringement lawsuits starting in 2025. These two strong signals indicate a high confidence level that ABC IP, LLC operates as a non-practicing entity.

USPTO Assignment Center search for US7398723: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/patent/index.html?qs=7398723