Patent 8640498

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 (3)

Asserters network →

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

  1. 2010-12-10 · recorded 2014-02-04 · reel 031952/0064 · ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST

    ELLISON, ADAM J. G.CORNING INCORPORATED

    Initial assignment from the inventor to the employer

  2. 2010-12-10 · recorded 2024-04-17 · reel 055848/0467 · ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST

    ELLISON, ADAM J. G.CORNING INCORPORATED

    Confirmatory assignment from the inventor to the employer

  3. 2010-12-10 · recorded 2025-01-13 · reel 056157/0278 · ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST

    ELLISON, ADAM J. G.CORNING INCORPORATED

    Confirmatory assignment from the inventor to the employer

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

There is no indication of unusual patterns such as inventors departing the original assignee within 12 months of filing.

Original assignee

The entity named on the issued patent is Corning Inc. Corning Inc. is a global technology company that specializes in specialty glass, ceramics, and related materials. They ship products embodying the claims, specifically display glass for active matrix liquid crystal displays (AMLCDs) and other flat panel display devices. Corning Inc. is currently an active, operating company.

Assignment timeline

  • 2010-12-10 (executed) / recorded 2014-02-04 — Reel 031952/0064

    • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
    • Assignor: ELLISON, ADAM J.G.
    • Assignee: CORNING INCORPORATED
    • Correspondent: CORNING INCORPORATED, ONE RIVERFRONT PLAZA, CORNING, NY 14831. This correspondent recurs in this patent's chain.
    • Context: Initial assignment from the inventor to the employer.

  • 2010-12-10 (executed) / recorded 2024-04-17 — Reel 055848/0467

    • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
    • Assignor: ELLISON, ADAM J. G.
    • Assignee: CORNING INCORPORATED
    • Correspondent: CORNING INCORPORATED, ONE RIVERFRONT PLAZA, CORNING, NY 14831. This correspondent recurs in this patent's chain.
    • Context: Confirmatory assignment from the inventor to the employer.

  • 2010-12-10 (executed) / recorded 2025-01-13 — Reel 056157/0278

    • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
    • Assignor: ELLISON, ADAM J. G.
    • Assignee: CORNING INCORPORATED
    • Correspondent: CORNING INCORPORATED, ONE RIVERFRONT PLAZA, CORNING, NY 14831. This correspondent recurs in this patent's chain.
    • Context: Confirmatory assignment from the inventor to the employer.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 8640498
    2010 : Inventor assigned to Corning
    2014 : Patent issued
    2024 : Confirmatory assign to Corning
    2025 : Confirmatory assign to Corning

NPE / troll-pattern signals

  1. Shell-entity transfer — Not present. All assignments are to Corning Incorporated, which is an operating company.
  2. Known asserter in the chain — Not present. Corning Incorporated is not a known Non-Practicing Entity (NPE).
  3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Present. The correspondent "CORNING INCORPORATED, ONE RIVERFRONT PLAZA, CORNING, NY 14831" is listed on all three recorded assignments (Reel 031952/0064, Reel 055848/0467, Reel 056157/0278). This indicates internal legal handling by the operating company.
  4. Cascading transfers — Not present. The multiple recorded assignments are confirmatory assignments from the inventor to the original assignee, all sharing the same execution date (2010-12-10), not transfers between chained LLCs.
  5. Pre-litigation transfer — Not present. The patent was issued in 2014. The International Trade Commission (ITC) investigation 337-TA-1441, where Corning Incorporated is the complainant and this patent is asserted, was initiated around September 2023. The recorded assignments in 2024 (Reel 055848/0467) and 2025 (Reel 056157/0278) are confirmatory and occurred after the litigation commenced, not prior to it.
  6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. Corning Inc. is an active, operating company.
  7. Privateering — Not present. Corning Incorporated is the operating company asserting its own patent in litigation.
  8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The patent is currently owned by Corning Incorporated, not a defensive aggregator. Although an IPR (IPR2025-00937) has been filed against this patent by Samsung Display Co., Ltd., this is a challenge to the patent by a defendant, not an acquisition by a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

Operating-company assertion. The patent US 8640498 is consistently owned by the original assignee, Corning Incorporated. All recorded assignments are from the inventor to Corning Inc. [cite: Reel 031952/0064, Reel 055848/0467, Reel 056157/0278]. Corning Incorporated is actively asserting this patent in litigation, as evidenced by its role as complainant in ITC investigation 337-TA-1441.

Verification link: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/

Generated 5/15/2026, 6:45:23 AM