Patent 8228801

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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Ownership chain (1)

Asserters network →

Structured records extracted from the assignment-history narrative below. Each entity links to its full ownership-network profile.

  1. 2021-05-03 · recorded 2021-05-13 · reel 056763/0749 · ASSIGNMENT

    DE LANGIS, ERIC M.COMPETITIVE ACCESS SYSTEMS, INC.

    Correspondent: KENNETH E. LEVIN · LAW OFFICE OF KENNETH E. LEVIN

    shell-entity transfer

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

  • Eric M. DeLangis.
    • The patent indicates "Individual" as the original assignee, implying the inventor, Eric M. DeLangis, was the original applicant. There is no employer information provided at the time of filing in the patent text.

Original assignee

The entity named on the issued patent as the "Original Assignee" is "Individual". However, the patent was subsequently assigned to Competitive Access Systems Inc.

Competitive Access Systems Inc. appears to be a patent assertion entity (NPE). Unified Patents explicitly identifies Competitive Access Systems as an NPE. Court documents also indicate its principal place of business is in Plano, Texas. There is no readily available information suggesting that Competitive Access Systems Inc. ships products embodying the claims of US8228801 or has a primary line of business other than patent assertion.

Current status of Competitive Access Systems Inc.: Operating as a patent assertion entity, engaged in litigation.

Assignment timeline

  • 2021-05-03 (executed) / recorded 2021-05-13 — Reel 056763/0749
    • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT
    • Assignor: DE LANGIS, ERIC M. (INDIVIDUAL)
    • Assignee: COMPETITIVE ACCESS SYSTEMS INC.
    • Correspondent: KENNETH E. LEVIN, LAW OFFICE OF KENNETH E. LEVIN, P.C., PO BOX 6445, SAN JOSE, CA 95150.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 8228801
    2009 : Filed by Individual
    2012 : Issued to Individual
    2021 : Assigned to Competitive Access Systems Inc

NPE / troll-pattern signals

  1. Shell-entity transfer — Present. The patent was assigned from the individual inventor to "Competitive Access Systems Inc." on 2021-05-13 (Reel 056763/0749). Competitive Access Systems Inc. is identified by Unified Patents as an NPE, and there is no evidence of it manufacturing or shipping products embodying the claims. Its principal place of business is listed in Plano, Texas, often associated with registered agent services for shell entities.
  2. Known asserter in the chain — Present. Competitive Access Systems Inc. is listed as an NPE by Unified Patents and has been involved in multiple infringement litigations, including against Motorola Mobility LLC and [[Samsung Electronics Co.](/litigations/by-defendant/Samsung%20Electronics%20Co.), Ltd.](/litigations/by-plaintiff/Samsung%20Electronics%20Co.%2C%20Ltd.).
  3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Unclear. The correspondent for the single assignment recorded is KENNETH E. LEVIN, LAW OFFICE OF KENNETH E. LEVIN, P.C. (Reel 056763/0749). With only one recorded assignment for this specific patent, it's not possible to determine if this correspondent recurs across the chain for this patent. However, Kenneth E. Levin is a known correspondent for other NPE entities as observed in broader patent assertion landscapes, but this specific instruction limits scope to this chain or this site's tracked patents, and without more context of "this site's tracked patents," a definitive "repeat" signal cannot be flagged here solely based on this patent's record.
  4. Cascading transfers — Not present. Only one assignment is recorded, from the individual inventor to Competitive Access Systems Inc. (Reel 056763/0749).
  5. Pre-litigation transfer — Unclear. The patent was assigned to Competitive Access Systems Inc. on 2021-05-13 (Reel 056763/0749). The Google Patents page shows litigation for the patent family, with the earliest listed case being "US case filed in Texas Eastern District Court, 2:22-cv-00287" on 2022-07-27. This is approximately 14 months after the assignment. While Competitive Access Systems Inc. is a known asserter, the 14-month gap does not strongly suggest a pre-litigation transfer (within 6 months).
  6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. There is no indication of the original assignee (Individual) or Competitive Access Systems Inc. undergoing bankruptcy proceedings related to this patent transfer.
  7. Privateering — Unclear. While Competitive Access Systems Inc. is an NPE and has asserted patents, there is no public information in the provided context to suggest this specific patent was transferred by an operating company for assertion against its competitors on its behalf.
  8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The chain ends with Competitive Access Systems Inc., which is an NPE, not a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence.
The patent was assigned from the individual inventor to Competitive Access Systems Inc. on 2021-05-13 (Reel 056763/0749), and Competitive Access Systems Inc. is a known patent assertion entity (NPE) according to Unified Patents. There is no evidence of Competitive Access Systems Inc. manufacturing products embodying the claims, and it has a history of patent litigation.

Verify on USPTO Assignment Center

Generated 5/21/2026, 12:48:53 PM