Assignment history

Inventors

• Alfred S. Braunberger: Employer not specified in the patent text, but assigned interest to Vision Works, LLC.
• Beau M. Braunberger: Employer not specified in the patent text, but assigned interest to Vision Works, LLC.

There is no information within the patent document to determine the inventors' employers at the time of filing. The inventors assigned their interest to Vision Works, LLC, and subsequently to Vision Works IP Corporation, on the same day the application was filed.

Original assignee

The entity named as the current assignee on the issued patent is Vision Works IP Corp. It is not readily determinable from the patent record or public information that Vision Works IP Corp ships a product embodying the claims. Their primary line of business, as evidenced by the extensive litigation history detailed previously, appears to be patent licensing and assertion. As of the current date, Vision Works IP Corp appears to be an operating entity for the purpose of patent assertion.

Assignment timeline

• 2011-11-22 (executed) / recorded 2011-11-22 — Reel 027266/0071

  • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
  • Assignor: BRAUNBERGER, ALFRED S., BRAUNBERGER, BEAU S.
  • Assignee: VISION WORKS, LLC
  • Correspondent: MICHAEL MEYERS, ESQ., 5830 CANOGA AVE. STE 100, WOODLAND HILLS, CA 91367. This correspondent recurs in this chain.
  • Context: Inventors assign their interest to an LLC.

• 2011-11-22 (executed) / recorded 2011-11-22 — Reel 027266/0069

  • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
  • Assignor: VISION WORKS, LLC
  • Assignee: VISION WORKS IP CORPORATION
  • Correspondent: MICHAEL MEYERS, ESQ., 5830 CANOGA AVE. STE 100, WOODLAND HILLS, CA 91367. This correspondent recurs in this chain.
  • Context: Internal transfer from one LLC to another IP-holding entity.

• 2012-01-30 (executed) / recorded 2012-01-30 — Reel 028509/0179

  • Conveyance: CORRECTIVE ASSIGNMENT TO CORRECT THE INVENTOR'S NAME BEAU M. BRAUNBERGER. PREVIOUSLY RECORDED ON REEL/FRAME: 027266/0069
  • Assignor: BRAUNBERGER, ALFRED S., BRAUNBERGER, BEAU M.
  • Assignee: VISION WORKS, LLC
  • Correspondent: MICHAEL MEYERS, ESQ., 5830 CANOGA AVE. SUITE 100, WOODLAND HILLS, CA 91367. This correspondent recurs in this chain.
  • Context: Corrective assignment to update an inventor's name in an earlier transfer.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 8315769
    2011 : Inventors assigned to Vision Works LLC
         : Vision Works LLC assigned to Vision Works IP Corp
    2012 : Corrective assignment
    2012 : Patent Issued
    2021 : First infringement suit filed
    2025 : Patent Expired

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — Present. The patent was transferred from the inventors to "VISION WORKS, LLC" (Reel 027266/0071) and then immediately to "VISION WORKS IP CORPORATION" (Reel 027266/0069), both entity names commonly associated with IP holding or licensing rather than product manufacturing.
2. Known asserter in the chain — Present. Vision Works IP Corp is explicitly identified as the plaintiff in all listed litigation cases (as per the "Litigation History" section of this analysis).
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Present. MICHAEL MEYERS, ESQ., with the firm address 5830 CANOGA AVE. STE 100, WOODLAND HILLS, CA 91367, is listed as the correspondent for all recorded assignments: Reel 027266/0071, Reel 027266/0069, and Reel 028509/0179.
4. Cascading transfers — Present. Two assignments occurred on the same date, 2011-11-22, in quick succession from the inventors to Vision Works, LLC, and then to Vision Works IP Corporation (Reel 027266/0071 and Reel 027266/0069).
5. Pre-litigation transfer — Not present. The latest assignment is a corrective one from 2012-01-30. The earliest identified litigation filing date is 2021-09-01, which is significantly longer than 6 months after the last transfer.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. There is no indication of the original assignee or inventors undergoing bankruptcy proceedings related to these transfers.
7. Privateering — Not present. There is no evidence suggesting an operating company transferred the patent to an NPE to assert on its behalf. The initial transfers appear to be from the inventors to an IP holding structure.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The patent is currently held by an entity that actively asserts patents, not a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence

This verdict is based on multiple strong signals: the rapid, sequential transfer of the patent from inventors to two shell-like entities ("LLC" and "IP CORPORATION") on the same day (Reel 027266/0071, Reel 027266/0069), the identification of the final assignee, Vision Works IP Corp, as a known patent asserter in numerous litigations, and the consistent appearance of the same correspondent attorney, Michael Meyers, Esq., across all recorded transfers (Reel 027266/0071, Reel 027266/0069, Reel 028509/0179).

Verification can be performed at the USPTO Patent Assignment Search page: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/ (search for patent number 8315769).