Patent 8132515

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.

Active provider: Google · gemini-2.5-flash

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

  • James W. Forbes
  • Marcus Thiesen
  • Dave Keats
    All named inventors were employees of National Steel Car Ltd at the time of filing, as evidenced by the initial assignment of their interest to the company on the application filing date. No unusual patterns suggesting inventor departure or a portfolio fire-sale are determinable from the provided information.

Original assignee

National Steel Car Ltd. is a manufacturer of railroad freight cars and other rolling stock. The company designs and produces various types of railcars, including gondola cars and hopper cars, which embody the claims of US8132515. National Steel Car Ltd is an operating company and is currently active.

Assignment timeline

  • 2010-06-16 (executed) / recorded 2014-08-13 — Reel 032515/0507

    • Conveyance: Assignment
    • Assignor: FORBES, JAMES W.; KEATS, DAVE; THIESEN, MARCUS
    • Assignee: NATIONAL STEEL CAR LIMITED
    • Correspondent: BORDEN LADNER GERVAIS LLP, 100 QUEEN STREET, SUITE 1100, OTTAWA, K1P 1J9, CANADA
    • Context: Initial assignment of patent rights from the inventors to their employer.

  • 2017-02-23 (executed) / recorded 2017-02-24 — Reel 039011/0456

    • Conveyance: Security Interest
    • Assignor: NATIONAL STEEL CAR LIMITED
    • Assignee: GREYPOINT CAPITAL INC.
    • Correspondent: PROCOPIO CORY HARGREAVES & SAVITCH LLP, 525 B STREET, SUITE 2200, SAN DIEGO, CA 92101-4469. This correspondent also filed the Lien document on the same date.
    • Context: Granting of a security interest in the patent as collateral for a financial transaction.

  • 2017-02-23 (executed) / recorded 2017-02-24 — Reel 039013/0503

    • Conveyance: Lien
    • Assignor: NATIONAL STEEL CAR LIMITED
    • Assignee: GREYPOINT CAPITAL INC.
    • Correspondent: PROCOPIO CORY HARGREAGVES & SAVITCH LLP, 525 B STREET, SUITE 2200, SAN DIEGO, CA 92101-4469. This correspondent also filed the Security Interest document on the same date.
    • Context: Recording of a lien on the patent, typically associated with a loan or financing arrangement.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 8132515
    2010 : Application filed
    2012 : Patent granted
    2014 : Inventors assign to National Steel Car Ltd
    2017 : Security interest to Greypoint Capital
         : Lien to Greypoint Capital
    2024 : US litigation filed
    2025 : PTAB cases filed

NPE / troll-pattern signals

  1. Shell-entity transfer — Not present. The primary owner remains National Steel Car Ltd, an operating company. Greypoint Capital Inc. is a private equity firm, not a known licensing-only shell entity.
  2. Known asserter in the chain — Not present. Neither National Steel Car Ltd nor Greypoint Capital Inc. appear on public NPE assertion lists.
  3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Present. PROCOPIO CORY HARGREAVES & SAVITCH LLP is listed as the correspondent for both the "Security Interest" (Reel 039011/0456) and the "Lien" (Reel 039013/0503) documents, both recorded on 2017-02-24.
  4. Cascading transfers — Not present. There are no multiple consecutive assignments through chained LLCs within a short timeframe; the recorded events are spaced years apart.
  5. Pre-litigation transfer — Not present. The most recent assignment-related recording (Security Interest/Lien) occurred in February 2017, more than six months before the first known US litigation case was filed in April 2024.
  6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. There is no indication of bankruptcy filings for the original assignee, and the nature of the transfers does not suggest a fire-sale.
  7. Privateering — Unclear. There is no publicly available information within the patent record or associated events to suggest a privateering arrangement.
  8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The chain does not terminate with a known defensive aggregator.

Verdict

Insufficient data.
While there is a repeat correspondent for two related financial filings (a security interest and a lien), there are no direct assignments of ownership to known NPEs or shell entities. The patent remains with the original operating company, National Steel Car Ltd, or is subject to financial encumbrances with a private equity firm. The available assignment records do not provide sufficient evidence to confidently determine a patent troll pattern.

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

Generated 5/15/2026, 12:46:51 PM