Patent 8411557

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

  • Daichi Imamura (Employer: Panasonic Corp)
  • Sadaki Futagi (Employer: Panasonic Corp)
  • Atsushi Matsumoto (Employer: Panasonic Corp)
  • Takashi Iwai (Employer: Panasonic Corp)
  • Tomofumi Takata (Employer: Panasonic Corp)

(Employer at time of filing is assumed to be Panasonic Corp, the original assignee, as is typical for inventor assignments to their employer. There are no unusual patterns indicating inventors departing within 12 months of filing).

Original assignee

Panasonic Corp. is a multinational electronics corporation that has historically shipped and continues to ship a vast range of products, including those embodying wireless communication technologies relevant to the patent's claims (e.g., mobile phones, smart devices, infrastructure components). Its primary line of business is diversified electronics manufacturing. Panasonic Corporation is currently operating.

Assignment timeline

  • 2014-01-16 (executed) / recorded 2014-01-24 — Reel 032180/0115
    • Conveyance: LIEN
    • Assignor: OPTIS WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY, LLC
    • Assignee: HIGHBRIDGE PRINCIPAL STRATEGIES, LLC, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
    • Correspondent: R. Edward Perkins, PERKINS IP LAW GROUP PLLC, 12600 Northborough Dr, Suite 230, Houston, TX 77067. This correspondent appears multiple times in this chain.
    • Context: Securitization – Optis Wireless Technology granted a lien on the patent to Highbridge Principal Strategies.
  • 2014-01-16 (executed) / recorded 2014-02-23 — Reel 032326/0707
    • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
    • Assignor: PANASONIC CORPORATION
    • Assignee: OPTIS WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY, LLC
    • Correspondent: R. Edward Perkins, PERKINS IP LAW GROUP PLLC, 12600 Northborough Dr, Suite 230, Houston, TX 77067. This correspondent appears multiple times in this chain.
    • Context: Transfer-to-asserter – Panasonic transferred the patent to Optis Wireless Technology, LLC.
  • 2014-01-16 (executed) / recorded 2014-03-12 — Reel 032437/0638
    • Conveyance: SECURITY INTEREST
    • Assignor: OPTIS WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY, LLC
    • Assignee: WILMINGTON TRUST, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
    • Correspondent: R. Edward Perkins, PERKINS IP LAW GROUP PLLC, 12600 Northborough Dr, Suite 230, Houston, TX 77067. This correspondent appears multiple times in this chain.
    • Context: Securitization – Optis Wireless Technology granted a security interest on the patent to Wilmington Trust.
  • 2016-07-11 (executed) / recorded 2016-07-15 — Reel 039361/0001
    • Conveyance: RELEASE BY SECURED PARTY
    • Assignor: HPS INVESTMENT PARTNERS, LLC
    • Assignee: OPTIS WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY, LLC
    • Correspondent: R. Edward Perkins, PERKINS IP LAW GROUP PLLC, 12600 Northborough Dr, Suite 230, Houston, TX 77067. This correspondent appears multiple times in this chain.
    • Context: Securitization release – HPS Investment Partners (successor to Highbridge Principal Strategies) released its lien/security interest on the patent.
  • 2008-08-29 to 2008-09-02 (executed) / recorded 2017-11-07 — Reel 044048/0900
    • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
    • Assignor: IMAMURA, DAICHI; FUTAGI, SADAKI; MATSUMOTO, ATSUSHI; IWAI, TAKASHI; TAKATA, TOMOFUMI (Inventors)
    • Assignee: PANASONIC CORPORATION
    • Correspondent: Kenneth L. King, King & Spalding LLP, 1180 Peachtree Street, NE, Atlanta, GA 30309-3521
    • Context: Internal record-keeping – Confirmatory assignment from inventors to the original assignee, Panasonic, typically executed to perfect title.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 8411557
    2013 : Patent issued
    2014 : Optis grants lien to Highbridge
         : Assigned to Optis Wireless Tech
         : Optis grants security to Wilmington
    2016 : Highbridge releases lien
    2017 : Inventors assign to Panasonic

NPE / troll-pattern signals

  1. Shell-entity transfer — Present. Optis Wireless Technology, LLC, the current assignee, is identified as a "patent assertion entity" that "makes no products" and whose "sole business is to sue companies" for "excessive payouts". The transfer from Panasonic Corp to Optis Wireless Technology, LLC (Reel 032326/0707, recorded 2014-02-23) is a transfer to a licensing-only entity.
  2. Known asserter in the chain — Present. Optis Wireless Technology, LLC is explicitly identified as a Non-Practicing Entity (NPE) by Unified Patents and RPX, and as a "patent assertion entity" in articles detailing its litigation.
  3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Present. R. Edward Perkins of PERKINS IP LAW GROUP PLLC appears as the correspondent for four distinct entries involving Optis Wireless Technology, LLC: Reel 032180/0115 (2014-01-24), Reel 032326/0707 (2014-02-23), Reel 032437/0638 (2014-03-12), and Reel 039361/0001 (2016-07-15).
  4. Cascading transfers — Present. Three critical events (a lien, the assignment, and a security interest) all share an execution date of 2014-01-16 and were recorded within a two-month period (2014-01-24, 2014-02-23, 2014-03-12) involving Optis Wireless Technology, LLC as either assignor or assignee, with the same correspondent. This indicates rapid establishment of financial and ownership structures around the patent shortly after its acquisition.
  5. Pre-litigation transfer — Present. The patent was assigned to Optis Wireless Technology, LLC on 2014-02-23 (Reel 032326/0707). Optis Wireless Technology, LLC and Panoptis Patent Management, LLC (an associated entity) filed their first suit asserting this and other patents against ZTE in 2014, making the transfer date proximate to the commencement of litigation. The patent was also later asserted against Apple starting in 2019.
  6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. There is no indication of Panasonic Corp having undergone bankruptcy proceedings related to this patent transfer.
  7. Privateering — Unclear. While Optis is asserting patents previously owned by Panasonic, there is no direct evidence from the assignment records or public search results to suggest that Panasonic is involved in, benefits from, or directs Optis's litigation against specific competitors.
  8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The patent is currently owned by Optis Wireless Technology, LLC, a known NPE, and is actively being asserted in litigation.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence
This verdict is strongly supported by multiple factors. The current assignee, Optis Wireless Technology, LLC, is identified as a patent assertion entity that does not make products and engages in extensive litigation. The patent was transferred to Optis from Panasonic (Reel 032326/0707, recorded 2014-02-23), followed by multiple security agreements and a release orchestrated by a repeat correspondent (R. Edward Perkins). This transfer preceded the assertion of the patent in litigation, fitting the pattern of a pre-litigation transfer to a known NPE.

For verification, refer to the USPTO Assignment Center search page for US8411557: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/

Generated 5/29/2026, 8:55:22 PM