Assignment history

Inventors

• Kenichi Miyoshi (Panasonic Corp)
• Jun Cheng (Panasonic Corp)

No unusual patterns observed regarding inventor departures.

Original assignee

Panasonic Corp. is the original assignee named on the issued patent. Panasonic is a multinational electronics company that manufactures a wide range of products, including those that could embody multicarrier communication claims. Panasonic Holdings Corp is currently operating.

Assignment timeline

• 2014-02-23 (executed) / recorded 2014-02-27 — Reel 031440/0173

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: PANASONIC CORPORATION
  • Assignee: OPTIS WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY, LLC
  • Correspondent: Scott C. Kelly, Kelly & Kelley, LLP, 16855 West Bernardo Drive, Suite 260, San Diego, CA 92127. This correspondent recurs frequently in patent assignment records for known NPEs.
  • Context: Transfer-to-asserter

• 2014-03-12 (executed) / recorded 2014-03-17 — Reel 031505/0130

  • Conveyance: Security Interest
  • Assignor: OPTIS WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY, LLC
  • Assignee: WILMINGTON TRUST, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
  • Correspondent: Jennifer S. Liu, Ropes & Gray LLP, 1211 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10036.
  • Context: Securitization

• 2014-01-24 (executed) / recorded 2014-03-19 — Reel 031527/0273

  • Conveyance: Lien
  • Assignor: OPTIS WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY, LLC
  • Assignee: HIGHBRIDGE PRINCIPAL STRATEGIES, LLC, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
  • Correspondent: Jennifer S. Liu, Ropes & Gray LLP, 1211 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10036. This correspondent also appeared on a previous entry.
  • Context: Securitization

• 2016-07-15 (executed) / recorded 2016-07-21 — Reel 036329/0815

  • Conveyance: Release By Secured Party
  • Assignor: HPS INVESTMENT PARTNERS, LLC (f.k.a. HIGHBRIDGE PRINCIPAL STRATEGIES, LLC)
  • Assignee: OPTIS WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY, LLC
  • Correspondent: Jennifer S. Liu, Ropes & Gray LLP, 1211 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10036. This correspondent also appeared on previous entries.
  • Context: Release of security interest

• 2017-11-12 (executed) / recorded 2017-11-20 — Reel 040924/0270

  • Conveyance: Assignment of Assignors Interest
  • Assignor: CHENG, JUN; MIYOSHI, KENICHI
  • Assignee: MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD.
  • Correspondent: W. David Boston, 4400 US Highway 9 North, Suite 1000, Freehold, NJ 07728.
  • Context: Reassignment of inventors' residual interest (likely a clean-up assignment)

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 8208569
    2010 : Application filed
    2012 : Patent Issued
    2014 : Assigned to Optis Wireless
         : Security Interest to Wilmington Trust
         : Lien to Highbridge
    2016 : Lien Released
    2017 : Inventors assigned to Matsushita

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — present. The transfer from Panasonic Corporation to Optis Wireless Technology, LLC (Reel 031440/0173) is a strong indicator. Optis Wireless Technology, LLC has been identified in litigation as a patent assertion entity and does not appear to ship products embodying the claims. The correspondent, Scott C. Kelly, is also associated with known NPEs.
2. Known asserter in the chain — present. Optis Wireless Technology LLC is a known patent assertion entity (NPE), as evidenced by its extensive litigation history.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — present. Scott C. Kelly of Kelly & Kelley, LLP (Reel 031440/0173) is a repeat correspondent in patent assignment records for known NPEs. Jennifer S. Liu of Ropes & Gray LLP also appears on multiple security interest filings (Reel 031505/0130, Reel 031527/0273, Reel 036329/0815) related to Optis Wireless Technology, LLC, consistent with financing arrangements often seen with NPEs.
4. Cascading transfers — not present. While there are multiple transfers related to financing, the primary ownership transfer to Optis Wireless was a single step, not a chain of LLCs.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — unclear. The "Family has litigation" section on Google Patents indicates first worldwide family litigation filed, but a specific date tied to this patent or its direct family members within 6 months of the 2014-02-23 assignment is not readily available in the provided text.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. Panasonic Corporation, the original assignee, is an active operating company.
7. Privateering — unclear. While Panasonic transferred the patent to Optis, there's no explicit information in the provided text to confirm if Optis is asserting on Panasonic's behalf against competitors.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The chain does not terminate at a known defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence

The transfer from Panasonic Corporation to Optis Wireless Technology, LLC (Reel 031440/0173), coupled with Optis Wireless Technology LLC being a known patent assertion entity and the recurrence of a correspondent attorney associated with NPEs, strongly indicates NPE activity. The securitization events following the assignment to Optis also align with the financing models often employed by NPEs.

USPTO Assignment Center search page: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/