Patent 8717204B2

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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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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Inventors

All inventors appear to have been associated with Realtime Data LLC at the time of filing, as they assigned their interest to the company concurrently with the application filing.

Original assignee

Realtime Data LLC was the entity named on the issued patent. At the time of filing and issuance, Realtime Data LLC developed and marketed systems and methods for accelerated data transmission, particularly for financial data and news feeds, indicating they shipped products or provided services embodying the claims. Their primary line of business was high-speed data compression and acceleration technology. Their current status is that they are primarily known as a patent assertion entity (NPE), though the patent US8717204B2 is listed as "Expired - Fee Related" as of October 3, 2021.

Assignment timeline

  • 2001-10-03 (executed) / recorded 2002-01-28 — Reel 007936/0652

    • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT
    • Assignor: FALLON, JAMES J.
    • Assignee: REALTIME DATA LLC
    • Correspondent: JOHN S. PRATT, ESQ., MORGAN & FINNEGAN, L.L.P., 345 PARK AVENUE, NEW YORK, NY 10154
    • Context: Inventor assigns rights to the original assignee for the initial priority application.

  • 2003-05-07 (executed) / recorded 2003-05-19 — Reel 010376/0925

    • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT
    • Assignor: FALLON, JAMES J. ET AL
    • Assignee: REALTIME DATA LLC
    • Correspondent: MORGAN & FINNEGAN, L.L.P., 345 PARK AVENUE, NEW YORK, NY 10154. This correspondent (firm) recurs in this chain.
    • Context: Inventors assign rights to the original assignee for a continuation application in the patent family.

  • 2013-09-24 (executed) / recorded 2013-10-01 — Reel 030386/0339

    • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
    • Assignor: FALLON, JAMES J.; MCERLAIN, STEPHEN J.; PICKEL, PAUL F.; MELONE, CARLTON J., 2ND
    • Assignee: REALTIME DATA, LLC
    • Correspondent: SCHOX, PATRICK, SCHOX, PLC, 500 3RD STREET, SUITE 515, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107
    • Context: Inventors assign specific interests to the original assignee for the application that led to US8717204B2.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 8717204B2
    2000 : Provisional application filed
    2001 : Inventor Fallon assigns to Realtime Data LLC
    2003 : Inventors assign to Realtime Data LLC
    2013 : Inventors assign to Realtime Data LLC
    2014 : Patent 8717204B2 issued
    2017 : First litigation filed
    2021 : Patent expired

NPE / troll-pattern signals

  1. Shell-entity transfer: Not present. The patent has consistently been assigned to Realtime Data LLC, without any transfers to distinct shell entities within the recorded chain.
  2. Known asserter in the chain: Present. Realtime Data LLC is a known patent asserter. The Google Patents record indicates that this patent has been involved in multiple district court litigation cases across various jurisdictions (Massachusetts, Texas Eastern, California Northern, Delaware) and several PTAB cases (e.g., IPR2018-00706, IPR2018-00612, CBM2017-00061).
  3. Repeat correspondent across the chain: Present. The law firm Morgan & Finnegan, L.L.P. (and John S. Pratt, Esq. from that firm) appears as the correspondent for two assignments (Reel 007936/0652 and Reel 010376/0925) within the patent family's assignment history, indicating a recurring legal representative for Realtime Data LLC in the early stages of patent prosecution.
  4. Cascading transfers: Not present. There are no multiple consecutive assignments through chained LLCs in a short timeframe.
  5. Pre-litigation transfer: Not present. The last assignment recorded for the application leading to US8717204B2 was in 2013 (Reel 030386/0339), while the first reported litigation for this patent family occurred in 2017.
  6. Bankruptcy fire-sale: Not present. There is no evidence in the assignment records or Google Patents suggesting that the patent was acquired through bankruptcy proceedings.
  7. Privateering: Unclear. There is no direct evidence within the patent records or readily available public litigation data to confirm or deny privateering activity by Realtime Data LLC.
  8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE): Not present. The current assignee, Realtime Data LLC, is an assertion entity, not a defensive aggregator, and the patent has not been acquired by one.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence

This verdict is driven by the presence of a known asserter, Realtime Data LLC, as the consistent owner throughout the patent's lifecycle and its involvement in extensive litigation, as documented by multiple district court and PTAB cases referenced in the Google Patents legal events section. The recurrence of the same correspondent firm in the early assignment chain (Reel 007936/0652 and Reel 010376/0925) further supports the pattern of a dedicated entity managing intellectual property for assertion.

For verification, see the USPTO Patent Assignment Search results for US8717204B2 at: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/patent/[8717204B2](/patent/8717204B2)

Generated 5/29/2026, 8:58:22 PM