Patent 8031223

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.

✓ Generated

Inventors

  • Patrick Teo: Employer not explicitly stated in the patent document, but the original assignee is Intellectual Ventures I LLC.

Original assignee

The original assignee named on the issued patent US8031223B2 is Intellectual Ventures I LLC. It is a well-known patent aggregation and licensing company, often associated with patent assertion, rather than shipping products embodying the claims. Its primary line of business is the acquisition, management, and licensing of intellectual property. Intellectual Ventures I LLC is currently operating.

Assignment timeline

  • 2011-07-22 (executed) / recorded 2011-07-22 — Reel 026771/0268

    • Conveyance: Assignment
    • Assignor: KWOK, CHU & SHINDLER LLC
    • Assignee: INTELLECTUAL VENTURES I LLC
    • Correspondent: BRENT W. LABARGE, 15400 SW BOONES FERRY ROAD SUITE 300, LAKE OSWEGO, OREGON, 97035.
    • Context: Transfer to patent aggregator.

  • 2018-10-30 (executed) / recorded 2018-11-07 — Reel 045350/0677

    • Conveyance: Assignment
    • Assignor: SONIC SOLUTIONS
    • Assignee: KWOK, CHU & SHINDLER LLC
    • Correspondent: LINDSEY C. O’NEIL, HOGAN LOVELLS US LLP, 1601 MARKET STREET, PHILADELPHIA, PA, 19103.
    • Context: Transfer of assignor's interest.

  • 2019-01-23 (executed) / recorded 2019-02-12 — Reel 046467/0345

    • Conveyance: NUNC PRO TUNC ASSIGNMENT
    • Assignor: INTELLECTUAL VENTURES I LLC
    • Assignee: INTELLECTUAL VENTURES ASSETS 99 LLC
    • Correspondent: BRENT W. LABARGE, 15400 SW BOONES FERRY ROAD SUITE 300, LAKE OSWEGO, OREGON, 97035. This correspondent also appeared earlier in this chain.
    • Context: Internal reorg within Intellectual Ventures entities.

  • 2019-03-11 (executed) / recorded 2019-03-22 — Reel 046700/0394

    • Conveyance: Assignment
    • Assignor: INTELLECTUAL VENTURES ASSETS 99 LLC
    • Assignee: STEEPHILL TECHNOLOGIES LLC
    • Correspondent: BRENT W. LABARGE, 15400 SW BOONES FERRY ROAD SUITE 300, LAKE OSWEGO, OREGON, 97035. This correspondent also appeared earlier in this chain.
    • Context: Transfer to a new entity.

  • 2019-05-13 (executed) / recorded 2019-05-17 — Reel 047120/0942

    • Conveyance: Assignment
    • Assignor: STEEPHILL TECHNOLOGIES LLC
    • Assignee: CEDAR LANE TECHNOLOGIES INC.
    • Correspondent: BRENT W. LABARGE, 15400 SW BOONES FERRY ROAD SUITE 300, LAKE OSWEGO, OREGON, 97035. This correspondent also appeared earlier in this chain.
    • Context: Transfer to a new entity.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 8031223
    2006 : Application filed by Intellectual Ventures I LLC
    2011 : Issued to Intellectual Ventures I LLC
         : Assigned from KWOK CHU SHINDLER LLC to IV I LLC
    2018 : Assigned from SONIC SOLUTIONS to KWOK CHU SHINDLER LLC
    2019 : Nunc Pro Tunc assignment to IV ASSETS 99 LLC
         : Assigned to STEEPHILL TECHNOLOGIES LLC
         : Assigned to CEDAR LANE TECHNOLOGIES INC.
    2023 : Patent expired

NPE / troll-pattern signals

  1. Shell-entity transfer — present

    • Reel 046467/0345, 2019-01-23: Transfer from Intellectual Ventures I LLC to Intellectual Ventures Assets 99 LLC. Intellectual Ventures is a known patent aggregator, and "Assets 99 LLC" strongly suggests a shell entity for holding assets.
    • Reel 046700/0394, 2019-03-11: Transfer from Intellectual Ventures Assets 99 LLC to Steephill Technologies LLC. Steephill Technologies LLC is listed as a current assignee for other patents by Cedar Lane Technologies Inc., which has a history of litigation.
    • Reel 047120/0942, 2019-05-13: Transfer from Steephill Technologies LLC to Cedar Lane Technologies Inc. Cedar Lane Technologies Inc. is an assignee on many patents.

  2. Known asserter in the chain — present

    • Intellectual Ventures I LLC and Intellectual Ventures Assets 99 LLC are present in the assignment chain (Reel 026771/0268, 2011-07-22; Reel 046467/0345, 2019-01-23). Intellectual Ventures is a widely recognized patent aggregator and asserter.
    • Cedar Lane Technologies Inc. (current assignee per Google Patents) is associated with multiple patent litigations according to the provided Google Patents data, suggesting a history of patent assertion.

  3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — present

    • BRENT W. LABARGE, 15400 SW BOONES FERRY ROAD SUITE 300, LAKE OSWEGO, OREGON, 97035, appears as the correspondent on multiple assignments:
      • Reel 026771/0268 (2011-07-22) for Intellectual Ventures I LLC.
      • Reel 046467/0345 (2019-01-23) for Intellectual Ventures Assets 99 LLC.
      • Reel 046700/0394 (2019-03-11) for Steephill Technologies LLC.
      • Reel 047120/0942 (2019-05-13) for Cedar Lane Technologies Inc.
        The repeated use of the same correspondent across transfers to multiple LLCs is a strong indicator of NPE activity.

  4. Cascading transfers — present

    • The transfers from Intellectual Ventures I LLC to Intellectual Ventures Assets 99 LLC (2019-01-23), then to Steephill Technologies LLC (2019-03-11), and finally to Cedar Lane Technologies Inc. (2019-05-13) all occurred within a 5-month period in 2019, with the same correspondent (Brent W. Labarge) for each, indicating a cascading transfer pattern (Reel 046467/0345, Reel 046700/0394, Reel 047120/0942).

  5. Pre-litigation transfer — present

    • The patent was assigned to Cedar Lane Technologies Inc. on 2019-05-13 (Reel 047120/0942). The Google Patents page shows multiple litigation cases filed in 2019 in various district courts, for example, 1:19-cv-01210 (Texas Western District Court), 1:19-cv-08424 (Illinois Northern District Court), 1:19-cv-01648 (Delaware District Court), and 1:19-cv-00997 (Delaware District Court). These filings are within 6 months of the assignment to Cedar Lane Technologies Inc.

  6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present

  7. Privateering — unclear

    • While Intellectual Ventures and Cedar Lane Technologies Inc. engage in assertion, there's no explicit information within the patent document or the provided assignment records to definitively label this as privateering (i.e., acting on behalf of an operating company competitor).

  8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present

Verdict

NPE — high confidence. This verdict is driven by the presence of multiple strong signals, including the involvement of a known patent aggregator (Intellectual Ventures I LLC, Reel 026771/0268), a clear pattern of cascading transfers between shell entities within a short timeframe (Reel 046467/0345, Reel 046700/0394, Reel 047120/0942), the consistent use of the same correspondent attorney across these transfers (Brent W. Labarge on Reel 026771/0268, Reel 046467/0345, Reel 046700/0394, Reel 047120/0942), and the timing of transfers closely preceding multiple litigation filings.

Verification link: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/

Generated 5/29/2026, 8:56:05 PM