Assignment history

Inventors

• David J. Hoover
• Bernard A. Reed, III
• Marjorie Krueger
• Douglas L. Voigt

All inventors were employees of Hewlett-Packard (HP) at the time of filing. There are no unusual patterns, such as mass departures, associated with the inventors.

Original assignee

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. of Houston, Texas, was the original assignee. At the time of filing (2006) and for many years after, HP was a major global operating company that designed, manufactured, and sold a vast range of computer hardware and enterprise software. A significant portion of the company, focused on enterprise products and services, was spun off in 2015 to form Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE). Products sold by HP and HPE, particularly their enterprise storage and clustered computing solutions like the StorageWorks line, almost certainly embodied the claims of this patent.

Assignment timeline

A search of the USPTO Patent Assignment database for US 8,370,416 reveals the following chain of title:

• 2006-04-25 (executed) / recorded 2006-05-18 — Reel 017834/0707
  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: David J. Hoover, Bernard A. Reed, III, Marjorie Krueger, Douglas L. Voigt (Inventors)
  • Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
  • Correspondent: Hewlett-Packard Company, Fort Collins, CO
  • Context: Standard assignment of invention from employees to employer.
• 2015-10-27 (executed) / recorded 2015-11-09 — Reel 037079/0001
  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
  • Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP
  • Correspondent: Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Fort Collins, CO
  • Context: Internal reorganization and transfer of intellectual property as part of the corporate separation of HP Inc. and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE).
• 2021-01-15 (executed) / recorded 2021-01-26 — Reel 055269/0001
  • Conveyance: Patent Assignment, Security Interest, and Lien Agreement
  • Assignor: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP
  • Assignee: OT Patent Escrow, LLC
  • Correspondent: Christopher P. King, Esq., King & Schickli, PLLC, Lexington, KY
  • Context: Securitization or transfer to an intermediary holding company, often as a prelude to a sale to a third party.
• 2021-02-01 (executed) / recorded 2021-02-24 — Reel 055403/0001
  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: OT Patent Escrow, LLC
  • Assignee: Valtrus Innovations Limited
  • Correspondent: Christopher P. King, Esq., King & Schickli, PLLC, Lexington, KY. This is the same correspondent as the immediately preceding transfer.
  • Context: Transfer-to-asserter. This quick-flip transfer from an escrow/holding entity to the ultimate assignee is a hallmark of a planned sale to a patent monetization firm.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 8370416
    2006 : Filed and assigned to Hewlett-Packard
    2013 : Issued
    2015 : Reassigned to Hewlett Packard Enterprise
    2021 : Sold to OT Patent Escrow LLC
         : Reassigned to Valtrus Innovations Ltd
    2025 : First infringement suits filed

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — Present. The patent was moved from Hewlett Packard Enterprise, a global operating company, to OT Patent Escrow, LLC and then to Valtrus Innovations Limited. Valtrus's own website states it "is the owner of an extensive portfolio of patents originating from Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company [HPE]" and is "focused on licensing these patents." This confirms Valtrus is a licensing-only entity with no products of its own.

2. Known asserter in the chain — Present. Valtrus Innovations Limited is a known patent assertion entity. Unified Patents explicitly identifies Valtrus as an NPE and an "entity of Key Patent Innovations Limited," an Irish patent monetization platform. RPX and other industry sources confirm Valtrus is a frequent plaintiff in patent litigation, having sued numerous companies including AT&T, Google, Digital Realty, Lenovo, and The Home Depot.

3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Present. The same correspondent, Christopher P. King of King & Schickli, PLLC, handled the recording for both the transfer from HPE to OT Patent Escrow (Reel 055269/0001) and the subsequent transfer from OT Patent Escrow to Valtrus (Reel 055403/0001). This recurrence on consecutive transfers involving shell/escrow entities is a strong indicator of a coordinated, multi-step transaction to a monetization firm.

4. Cascading transfers — Present. The patent was transferred from HPE to OT Patent Escrow on 2021-01-15 and then immediately flipped to Valtrus Innovations just 17 days later on 2021-02-01. This rapid, two-step transfer through an intermediary is a classic method for structuring a patent sale to an assertion entity.

5. Pre-litigation transfer — Not present. The final transfer to Valtrus occurred in February 2021. The first litigation noted in the provided source material was filed in early 2025, well outside the 6-month window for this signal. However, the transfers clearly enabled the later assertion campaign.

6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. The patent was sold by HPE, a financially healthy and operating company.

7. Privateering — Present. This is a textbook example of privateering. An operating company, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, sold a portfolio of its patents to a specialized assertion entity, Valtrus Innovations, which then asserted those patents against a wide range of operating companies, including HPE's competitors and customers in the data center and telecommunications industries.

8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The chain terminates at a known patent asserter.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence

The ownership chain of US 8,370,416 displays multiple, strong signals of NPE activity. The patent was transferred from its original developer, an operating company (HPE), to a known patent assertion entity (Valtrus Innovations Limited) via a rapid, cascading transfer through an escrow LLC (Reels 055269/0001 and 055403/0001). This pattern is a clear example of privateering, where an operating company divests patents for the purpose of monetization through litigation by a third party. Valtrus Innovations is a well-documented NPE that has initiated numerous infringement lawsuits based on the portfolio acquired from HPE.

Verification of the assignment records can be performed at the USPTO Assignment Center.