Patent 7716217

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.

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Ownership chain (3)

Asserters network →

Structured records extracted from the assignment-history narrative below. Each entity links to its full ownership-network profile.

  1. 2007-04-10 · reel 019488/0091 · Assignment

    MARSTON, JUSTIN; MARSTON, PAULBLUESPACE SOFTWARE CORPORATION

    Correspondent: MICHAEL T. MAINE · LAW OFFICE OF MICHAEL T. MAINE

    Original assignment from inventors to company

  2. 2008-09-16 · recorded 2008-09-22 · reel 021703/0063 · Security Agreement

    BLUESPACE SOFTWARE CORPORATIONSILICON VALLEY BANK

    Correspondent: KAREN M. HERRBOLD · SQUIRE, SANDERS & DEMPSEY

    Securitization

  3. 2014-10-28 · recorded 2014-11-04 · reel 033282/0268 · Assignment

    BLUESPACE FEDERAL CORP., BLUESPACE SOFTWARE CORP.STERLING COMPUTERS CORPORATION

    Correspondent: LELAND G. DETTMER · STERLING COMPUTERS CORPORATION

    Acquisition

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.

✓ Generated

Inventors

  • Justin Marston
  • Paul Marston

Employer at time of filing (Bluespace Software Corp) is determinable from the original assignee information. There are no unusual patterns indicating inventors departing within 12 months of filing based on the provided data.

Original assignee

Bluespace Software Corp.
Based on the patent's description as "Determining relevance of electronic content" and its application to email systems, their primary line of business appears to be software development, specifically for electronic content management and email systems. It is unclear from the provided information whether Bluespace Software Corp shipped a product embodying the claims.
Current status: Acquired (at least partially, or assets transferred) by STERLING COMPUTERS Corp.

Assignment timeline

  • 2007-04-10 (executed) / recorded 2007-04-10 — Reel 019488/0091

    • Conveyance: Assignment
    • Assignor: MARSTON, JUSTIN; MARSTON, PAUL
    • Assignee: BLUESPACE SOFTWARE CORPORATION
    • Correspondent: MICHAEL T. MAINE, LAW OFFICE OF MICHAEL T. MAINE, P.O. BOX 11218, SANTA ROSA, CALIFORNIA 95406
    • Context: Original assignment from inventors to company

  • 2008-09-16 (executed) / recorded 2008-09-22 — Reel 021703/0063

    • Conveyance: Security Agreement
    • Assignor: BLUESPACE SOFTWARE CORP.
    • Assignee: SILICON VALLEY BANK
    • Correspondent: KAREN M. HERRBOLD, SQUIRE, SANDERS & DEMPSEY L.L.P., 275 BATTERY STREET, SUITE 2600, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111
    • Context: Securitization (patent used as collateral for a loan)

  • 2014-10-28 (executed) / recorded 2014-11-04 — Reel 033282/0268

    • Conveyance: Assignment
    • Assignor: BLUESPACE FEDERAL CORP., BLUESPACE SOFTWARE CORP.
    • Assignee: STERLING COMPUTERS CORPORATION
    • Correspondent: LELAND G. DETTMER, STERLING COMPUTERS CORPORATION, 100 CONVENTRY MANOR, 12600 NORTHBOROUGH DR. SUITE 150, HOUSTON, TX 77067
    • Context: Acquisition (transfer of assets to STERLING COMPUTERS CORPORATION)

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 7716217
    2007 : Assigned to Bluespace Software Corp
    2008 : Security agreement with Silicon Valley Bank
    2010 : Patent granted
    2014 : Assigned to Sterling Computers Corp
    2024 : US case filed in Texas Western
         : PTAB IPR2025-00299 filed Pending Instituted
         : PTAB IPR2025-00430 filed Pending Instituted
         : PTAB IPR2025-01248 filed Procedural Termination

NPE / troll-pattern signals

  1. Shell-entity transfer — not present. The transfers are to Silicon Valley Bank (a financial institution) and Sterling Computers Corporation (an operating company).
  2. Known asserter in the chain — not present. None of the assignees (Bluespace Software Corp, Silicon Valley Bank, STERLING COMPUTERS Corp) are on common NPE lists.
  3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — not present. The correspondents for each assignment are different: MICHAEL T. MAINE for the initial assignment, KAREN M. HERRBOLD of SQUIRE, SANDERS & DEMPSEY L.L.P. for the security agreement, and LELAND G. DETTMER of STERLING COMPUTERS CORPORATION for the final assignment.
  4. Cascading transfers — not present. The assignments are spaced years apart (2007, 2008, 2014), not within a short period of <24 months.
  5. Pre-litigation transfer — not present. The most recent assignment to Sterling Computers Corp was in 2014, while litigation was filed in 2024, a significant gap.
  6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. The conveyances do not indicate bankruptcy proceedings.
  7. Privateering — unclear. While Sterling Computers Corp is an operating company, without further information on their business practices and the nature of the 2024 litigation, it's unclear if this is a privateering arrangement.
  8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The chain does not end at a known defensive aggregator.

Verdict

Operating-company assertion. The patent was assigned to STERLING COMPUTERS CORPORATION in 2014, which appears to be an operating company. The subsequent litigation filed in 2024 suggests assertion by this operating company.

USPTO Assignment Center search for 7716217

Generated 5/19/2026, 6:48:10 PM