Assignment history

Inventors

• C. Douglass Thomas: Likely associated with IpVenture Inc. at the time of filing.
• Peter P. Tong: Likely associated with IpVenture Inc. at the time of filing.

The patent was originally assigned to IpVenture Inc. at the time of filing (January 7, 2011). It is common for inventors to assign their rights to their employer or associated entity. No information suggests the inventors departed the original assignee within 12 months of filing.

Original assignee

• Name: IpVenture Inc.
• Shipped a product embodying the claims: Unclear from the patent text. IpVenture Inc. is generally understood to be an intellectual property management and licensing company, not typically a direct product manufacturer.
• Primary line of business: Intellectual property development and licensing.
• Current status: Unclear from the provided text or public records, but it assigned the patent away in late 2024.

Assignment timeline

• 2024-09-30 (executed) / recorded 2024-10-04 — Reel 062630/0179

  • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT
  • Assignor: IPVENTURE, INC.
  • Assignee: THOMAS, C. DOUGLASS; TONG, PETER P.
  • Correspondent: BEYER LAW GROUP LLP, ONE EMBARCADERO CENTER, SUITE 700, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111.
  • Context: Transfer of patent rights from the original assignee (a corporation) to the named individual inventors.

• 2024-09-30 (executed) / recorded 2024-10-04 — Reel 062630/0179

  • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT
  • Assignor: THOMAS, C. DOUGLASS; TONG, PETER P.
  • Assignee: INGENIOSPEC, LLC
  • Correspondent: BEYER LAW GROUP LLP, ONE EMBARCADERO CENTER, SUITE 700, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111. This same correspondent also appears on the immediately preceding record in this chain.
  • Context: Transfer of patent rights from the individual inventors to a limited liability company.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 8112104
    2011 : Filed by IpVenture Inc
    2012 : Issued to IpVenture Inc
    2024 : Assigned to inventors
         : Assigned to Ingeniospec LLC

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — present. The patent was transferred to "Ingeniospec LLC" (Reel 062630/0179, executed 2024-09-30, recorded 2024-10-04). This name, along with the subsequent litigation activity and IPR challenge by Unified Patents, strongly suggests it operates as a licensing or assertion entity rather than a product-shipping company.
2. Known asserter in the chain — present. Unified Patents, a known anti-NPE organization, filed an IPR (IPR2026-00142) against this patent, which typically indicates that the current owner (Ingeniospec LLC) is considered an NPE.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — present. BEYER LAW GROUP LLP, located at ONE EMBARCADERO CENTER, SUITE 700, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111, is listed as the correspondent for both assignments recorded on Reel 062630/0179 (executed 2024-09-30, recorded 2024-10-04). This firm handled the transfer from IpVenture Inc. to the inventors and then immediately from the inventors to Ingeniospec LLC.
4. Cascading transfers — present. Two assignments occurred on the same execution date (2024-09-30) and recording date (2024-10-04), transferring the patent from IpVenture Inc. to the inventors, and then from the inventors to Ingeniospec LLC (Reel 062630/0179).
5. Pre-litigation transfer — present. The assignments to Ingeniospec LLC were executed on 2024-09-30 and recorded on 2024-10-04 (Reel 062630/0179). A US case was filed in the Texas Eastern District Court (case 2:24-cv-00819) with a 2024 filing indicator, placing the assignment within months of the litigation.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. There is no indication that the original assignee, IpVenture Inc., underwent bankruptcy proceedings.
7. Privateering — unclear. There is no explicit information to suggest that IpVenture Inc. transferred the patent to Ingeniospec LLC to assert on its behalf against competitors.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The final assignee in the recorded chain is Ingeniospec LLC, which is not a known defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence. This verdict is supported by multiple strong signals: the transfer to Ingeniospec LLC, which appears to be a shell entity, was part of cascading transfers from the original assignee to the inventors and then to Ingeniospec LLC, all executed on 2024-09-30 and recorded on 2024-10-04 (Reel 062630/0179). These transfers immediately preceded a 2024 district court litigation filing (case 2:24-cv-00819) and Ingeniospec LLC is known to Unified Patents as an asserting entity, evidenced by the IPR challenge IPR2026-00142. The consistent use of BEYER LAW GROUP LLP as the correspondent across both transfers in the chain further reinforces this pattern.

For verification, see USPTO Assignment Center: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/