Patent 8018880

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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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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Inventors

  • Norival R. Figueira: Likely employed by Hammerhead Systems, Inc. at the time of filing, which was an operating company in the networking equipment sector. The inventors assigned their rights to Hammerhead Systems, Inc. shortly after the application was filed.
  • Richard D. Gitlin: Likely employed by Hammerhead Systems, Inc. at the time of filing.

Unusual patterns: The inventors assigned their rights to Hammerhead Systems, Inc. on June 6-7, 2008, a few months after the March 25, 2008 filing date. Hammerhead Systems, Inc., an operating company, subsequently assigned the patent back to Brixham Solutions Ltd. in early 2010 before Hammerhead's acquisition by Nokia Siemens Networks later that year. This initial loop suggests a strategic handling of intellectual property prior to a major corporate transaction.

Original assignee

The original assignee on the application was Brixham Solutions Ltd. While originally listed, the patent's journey involved an early transfer to Hammerhead Systems, Inc., an operating company known for its HSX 6000 product in the aggregation network space. Hammerhead Systems, Inc. was acquired by Nokia Siemens Networks in 2010. Brixham Solutions Ltd. later re-acquired the patent from Hammerhead Systems, Inc. in 2010. Given its re-acquisition of the patent and subsequent transfers to entities with names characteristic of patent holding companies, Brixham Solutions Ltd. appears to have primarily functioned as a patent holding or licensing entity rather than shipping products embodying the claims directly. Its current status as an independent operating entity is unclear, as the patent has been transferred out.

Assignment timeline

  • 2008-06-06 to 2008-06-07 (executed) / recorded 2008-06-17 — Reel 021112/0104

    • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
    • Assignor: GITLIN, RICHARD D.; FIGUEIRA, NORIVAL R.
    • Assignee: HAMMERHEAD SYSTEMS, INC., CALIFORNIA
    • Correspondent: BLAKELY, SOKOLOFF, TAYLOR & ZAFMAN, LLP, 1279 OAKMEAD PARKWAY, SUNNYVALE, CALIFORNIA 94085-4040.
    • Context: Inventors assigned their patent rights to an operating company, likely their employer or an acquiring entity.

  • 2010-01-08 (executed) / recorded 2010-01-19 — Reel 023810/0916

    • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
    • Assignor: HAMMERHEAD SYSTEMS, INC., DELAWARE
    • Assignee: BRIXHAM SOLUTIONS LTD., VIRGIN ISLANDS, BRITISH
    • Correspondent: RICHARD A. LOEB, 555 Montgomery Street, Suite 1000, San Francisco, CA 94111.
    • Context: An operating company assigned patent rights back to the original applicant, potentially as part of a divestiture or re-organization before the operating company's acquisition.

  • 2017-06-27 (executed) / recorded 2017-08-16 — Reel 043312/0218

    • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
    • Assignor: BRIXHAM SOLUTIONS LTD.
    • Assignee: GLOBAL INNOVATION AGGREGATORS LLC., CALIFORNIA
    • Correspondent: NICK ZIMMERMAN, 10887 White Rock Rd., Ste. 200, Rancho Cordova, CA 95670. This correspondent recurs in this chain.
    • Context: Transfer from a prior patent holding entity to an entity with a name suggesting patent aggregation.

  • 2019-12-24 (executed) / recorded 2020-01-13 — Reel 051579/0773

    • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
    • Assignor: GLOBAL INNOVATION AGGREGATORS, LLC
    • Assignee: K.MIZRA LLC, CALIFORNIA
    • Correspondent: NICK ZIMMERMAN, 10887 White Rock Rd., Ste. 200, Rancho Cordova, CA 95670. This correspondent recurs in this chain.
    • Context: Transfer between entities with names suggesting patent aggregation/licensing, indicating a further sale within the assertion ecosystem.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 8018880
    2008 : Filed by Brixham Solutions Ltd
         : Inventors assigned to Hammerhead Systems
    2010 : Hammerhead assigned to Brixham
    2011 : Patent issued
    2017 : Brixham assigned to Global Innovation Aggregators
    2020 : Global Innovation Aggregators assigned to K.MIZRA LLC
    2024 : Infringement suit filed by K.MIZRA

NPE / troll-pattern signals

  1. Shell-entity transfer — Present.

    • Global Innovation Aggregators LLC (assignee in Reel 043312/0218) has a name highly suggestive of a patent aggregation or licensing entity, typically a shell.
    • K.MIZRA LLC (assignee in Reel 051579/0773) is the current assignee, has a generic name, and is known to be asserting this patent in litigation. These characteristics are consistent with a shell entity.
    • Brixham Solutions Ltd. (assignee in Reel 023810/0916, assignor in Reel 043312/0218): Its re-acquisition of the patent from an operating company (Hammerhead) and subsequent transfer to other aggregation-named entities strongly suggests it acted as a patent holding/licensing entity.

  2. Known asserter in the chain — Present. K.MIZRA LLC is the current assignee and has active litigation for this patent (Case 2:24-cv-00974 in Texas Eastern District Court), identifying it as an asserting entity.

  3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Present. NICK ZIMMERMAN, 10887 White Rock Rd., Ste. 200, Rancho Cordova, CA 95670, is the correspondent for the assignment to Global Innovation Aggregators LLC (Reel 043312/0218) and the subsequent assignment to K.MIZRA LLC (Reel 051579/0773). This recurrence indicates a consistent legal representative for these entities.

  4. Cascading transfers — Not present. The transfers from Brixham to Global Innovation Aggregators (recorded 2017-08-16) and then to K.MIZRA LLC (recorded 2020-01-13) are separated by more than 24 months based on both executed and recorded dates.

  5. Pre-litigation transfer — Not present. The assignment to K.MIZRA LLC was executed on 2019-12-24 and recorded on 2020-01-13 (Reel 051579/0773). The earliest identified litigation (2:24-cv-00974) was filed in 2024, which is not within 6 months of the transfer date.

  6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. There is no indication that any of the assignors in the chain filed for bankruptcy. While Hammerhead Systems, Inc. was acquired, the patent transfer occurred before the acquisition and was not part of bankruptcy proceedings.

  7. Privateering — Unclear. The patent was transferred from an operating company (Hammerhead Systems, Inc.) to Brixham Solutions Ltd. before Hammerhead's acquisition. It is not explicitly documented that Brixham, Global Innovation Aggregators, or K.MIZRA are asserting the patent on behalf of an operating company against its competitors.

  8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The chain terminates with K.MIZRA LLC, which is an asserting entity, not a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence

This verdict is supported by the presence of multiple strong signals: the patent is currently held by K.MIZRA LLC, a non-operating entity actively involved in litigation. The chain includes transfers to other shell-like entities (Global Innovation Aggregators LLC), and the same correspondent attorney, Nick Zimmerman, handled the recordings for these two most recent transfers (Reel 043312/0218 and Reel 051579/0773), indicating a consistent legal strategy associated with patent assertion.

USPTO Assignment Center Search: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/

Generated 5/27/2026, 9:17:06 PM