Assignment history

Inventors

The named inventors for US Patent 8627684 are Michael George Shultz, George Clinton Shay, David John Ulrich, James Gary Anderson, Liam Ruan De Paor, Lewis Kirk Klingensmith, and Patrick Aaron Parks. All inventors were employed by Corning Inc. at the time of filing, as indicated by the direct assignments of their interest to Corning Inc. on the filing date or shortly thereafter (e.g., Reel 020084/0147 and Reel 024479/0819). No unusual patterns of inventor departures within 12 months of filing are observed, as the assignments are to the original assignee.

Original assignee

The original assignee named on the issued patent is Corning Inc.
Corning Inc. is a global technology company known for its specialization in glass science, ceramics science, and optical physics. They are a prominent manufacturer of products such as Gorilla Glass for mobile devices, optical fiber for telecommunications, and glass for flat panel displays, which directly aligns with the subject matter of US8627684 related to glass sheet manufacturing. Corning Inc. ships products embodying the claims of this patent, as the patent describes an apparatus and method for controlling glass sheet tension in a fusion process, a technique Corning Inc. developed and uses to produce high-quality thin glass sheets for flat panel displays.
Corning Inc. is currently an operating, publicly traded company.

Assignment timeline

Based on the USPTO Patent Assignment Search for US8627684, the following assignment records are found:

• 2007-10-29 (executed) / recorded 2008-01-08 — Reel 020084/0147

  • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
  • Assignor: SHAY, GEORGE CLINTON; ANDERSON, JAMES GARY; KLINGENSMITH, LEWIS KIRK; ULRICH, DAVID JOHN
  • Assignee: CORNING INCORPORATED
  • Correspondent: DENNISON, BETTY J., CORNING INCORPORATED PATENT DEPARTMENT SP-TI-03-1, CORNING, NY 14831
  • Context: Original assignment from four inventors to the corporate assignee.

• 2010-04-27 (executed) / recorded 2010-07-29 — Reel 024479/0819

  • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
  • Assignor: ULRICH, DAVID JOHN; ANDERSON, JAMES GARY; DEPAOR, LIAM RUAN; PARKS, PATRICK AARON; KLINGENSMITH, LEWIS KIRK; SHAY, GEORGE CLINTON; SHULTZ, MICHAEL GEORGE
  • Assignee: CORNING INCORPORATED
  • Correspondent: DANN, M. P., CORNING INCORPORATED, PATENT DEPARTMENT, SP-TI-03, CORNING, NY 14831
  • Context: Confirmatory or superseding assignment from all seven inventors to the corporate assignee.

There are no recorded post-issuance assignments for US8627684. The patent remains with the original assignee, Corning Inc.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 8627684
    2007 : Filed by Corning Inc
    2008 : Assignors interest to Corning Inc
    2010 : Assignors interest to Corning Inc
    2014 : Issued to Corning Inc
    2029 : Patent expires

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — Not present. All assignments are from inventors to Corning Inc., an established operating company. There are no transfers to entities with names suggesting shell operations or registered-agent addresses.
2. Known asserter in the chain — Not present. Corning Inc. is an operating company and not listed as a known Non-Practicing Entity (NPE).
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Not present. While both correspondents (Betty J. Dennison and M.P. Dann) are associated with "CORNING INCORPORATED PATENT DEPARTMENT", this indicates internal legal counsel for the operating company, not a third-party law firm commonly used by multiple shell entities.
4. Cascading transfers — Not present. There are only two assignments, both to the original operating company, and separated by nearly two years.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — Not present. The assignments occurred well before any reported litigation (the earliest PTAB case is IPR2025-01137, and the ITC cases do not have specific filing dates listed in the provided information but are significantly later than 2010). The patent issued in 2014.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. Corning Inc. has not filed for bankruptcy.
7. Privateering — Not present. There is no indication of a transfer from Corning Inc. to an NPE.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The patent remains with Corning Inc.

Verdict

Operating-company assertion

The patent US8627684 has remained with its original operating assignee, Corning Inc., since its inception, as evidenced by the assignments on Reel 020084/0147 and Reel 024479/0819. There are no recorded transfers to any known Non-Practicing Entities or shell companies, and all correspondents are internal counsel for Corning Inc. The litigation noted (IPR2025-01137, 337-TA-3795, 337-TA-1433) involves Corning Inc. as the patent owner, which is consistent with an operating company asserting its intellectual property against competitors.

USPTO Assignment Center search for US8627684: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/patft/8627684