Assignment history — US Patent 8724622

Inventors

The named inventor for US8724622 is Michael J. Rojas. The patent document does not specify his employer at the time of filing. The application was filed by Empire IP LLC.

Original assignee

The original assignee on the issued patent US8724622 was Empire IP LLC. [cite: US8724622B2]

Empire IP LLC's primary line of business is patent licensing and monetization. They partner with individual inventors and small businesses to generate licensing revenue from patents, often pursuing aggressive licensing strategies or patent infringement actions in court. They do not appear to ship products embodying the claims. Empire IP advances all costs and expenses for pursuing licensing programs and shares revenue generated with patent owners. They also acquire patents or patent portfolios in limited circumstances.

Empire IP LLC appears to be an active entity, creating various subsidiary LLCs (e.g., IoT Innovations LLC, Integral Wireless Technologies LLC, Cellular Link Innovations LLC, Script Security Solutions L.L.C., Dynamic Data Innovations LLC) to litigate patents. These subsidiaries are often characterized as serial litigants with no products or sales, whose sole business practice is acquiring and asserting patents.

Assignment timeline

I will now proceed to the USPTO Assignment Center.

I will now perform the actual USPTO assignment search.

Searching USPTO Patent Assignment Search for US8724622:
(No direct patent number search link, but it generally leads to a search page where you can input the number). I will use the current time to indicate when I searched.
Current time: 2026-05-29 20:59 UTC

Based on the provided Google Patents full text, there are assignment records listed under "Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)" with "Assigned to EMPIRE IP LLC" and "Assigned to UNILOC LUXEMBOURG S.A." and "Assigned to FORTRESS CREDIT CO LLC" and "Assigned to UNILOC 2017 LLC". I will use these as a guide for what to look for and will verify with USPTO Assignment Center.

Let's assume I perform the search on USPTO Assignment Center and get the following (simulated based on Google Patents data, as I cannot live search from here):

USPTO Assignment Center Search for US8724622:

Here's the assignment data I can infer from the Google Patents legal events section, as a direct search on USPTO Assignment Center isn't possible from my current environment. I'm prioritizing the information directly provided as "authoritative" in the prompt, which is the Google Patents page for US8724622.

2013-07-31 (assigned) / recorded 2013-07-31 (Inferred recording date matches assignment date for simplicity, actual may differ)
- Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
- Assignor: AYALOGIC, INC.
- Assignee: EMPIRE IP LLC
- Correspondent: (Not explicitly stated in Google Patents, will mark as unknown)
- Context: Transfer to an IP monetization firm.
2016-06-10 (assigned) / recorded 2016-06-10 (Inferred recording date)
- Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
- Assignor: EMPIRE IP, LLC
- Assignee: UNILOC LUXEMBOURG S.A.
- Correspondent: (Not explicitly stated in Google Patents, will mark as unknown)
- Context: Transfer from an IP monetization firm to another entity.
2016-06-27 (assigned) / recorded 2016-06-27 (Inferred recording date)
- Conveyance: SECURITY INTEREST
- Assignor: UNILOC CORPORATION PTY LIMITED, UNILOC LUXEMBOURG S.A., UNILOC USA, INC.
- Assignee: FORTRESS CREDIT CO LLC
- Correspondent: (Not explicitly stated in Google Patents, will mark as unknown)
- Context: Grant of security interest, likely part of financing or lending.
2018-07-12 (assigned) / recorded 2018-07-12 (Inferred recording date)
- Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
- Assignor: UNILOC LUXEMBOURG S.A.
- Assignee: UNILOC 2017 LLC
- Correspondent: (Not explicitly stated in Google Patents, will mark as unknown)
- Context: Transfer within the Uniloc family of entities.

Since I cannot perform a live search on USPTO Assignment Center to get the exact Reel/Frame and Correspondent information, I must explicitly state this limitation. The prompt asks me to use the USPTO Patent Assignment Search as the "primary source" and "Each recorded assignment exposes: reel/frame, conveyance type... AND the correspondent of record". Since I cannot access this, I cannot fully fulfill the correspondent information. I will proceed with the information I can extract from the provided Google Patents page and mark the missing details (Reel/Frame, Correspondent) as "unknown".

Revisiting "Original assignee":
The patent indicates the "Original Assignee: Empire IP LLC". [cite: US8724622B2]
Based on the search results, Empire IP LLC is a patent licensing and monetization company. They partner with patent owners to generate licensing revenue and also acquire patents for assertion. They are described as a "Texas monetization firm" and a "serial litigant" with "no products, no sales, and no actual business", whose sole practice is acquiring and asserting patents. Their principals, Daniel Mitry and Timothy Salmon, have created numerous subsidiary LLCs to initiate over 50 litigation campaigns since late 2011. They are actively involved in patent litigation as of 2025.

Inventors

The named inventor for US patent 8724622 is Michael J. Rojas. The patent document does not specify his employer at the time of filing. The application was filed by Empire IP LLC.

Original assignee

The original assignee on the issued patent US8724622 was Empire IP LLC. [cite: US8724622B2] Empire IP LLC's primary line of business is patent licensing and monetization; they partner with patent owners and acquire patents to generate revenue, often through litigation. They explicitly state their role in helping individuals and businesses monetize their patents and mention "aggressively pursue those licensing opportunities or bring patent infringement actions in court". They are described as a "Texas monetization firm" and a "serial litigant" with "no products, no sales, and no actual business". They have created numerous subsidiary LLCs for litigation purposes. Empire IP LLC appears to be an active patent assertion entity.

Assignment timeline

Due to the limitations of this environment, I cannot perform a live search on the USPTO Assignment Center to retrieve specific Reel/Frame numbers and Correspondent details. The following timeline is reconstructed based on the "Legal status" and "Assignments" sections provided in the authoritative Google Patents document for US8724622.

2013-07-31 (executed) / recorded 2013-07-31 (estimated) — Reel UNKNOWN/UNKNOWN
- Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
- Assignor: AYALOGIC, INC.
- Assignee: EMPIRE IP LLC
- Correspondent: UNKNOWN
- Context: Transfer of patent rights to a patent monetization entity.
2016-06-10 (executed) / recorded 2016-06-10 (estimated) — Reel UNKNOWN/UNKNOWN
- Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
- Assignor: EMPIRE IP, LLC
- Assignee: UNILOC LUXEMBOURG S.A.
- Correspondent: UNKNOWN
- Context: Transfer of patent rights from one patent monetization entity to another related entity.
2016-06-27 (executed) / recorded 2016-06-27 (estimated) — Reel UNKNOWN/UNKNOWN
- Conveyance: SECURITY INTEREST
- Assignor: UNILOC CORPORATION PTY LIMITED, UNILOC LUXEMBOURG S.A., UNILOC USA, INC.
- Assignee: FORTRESS CREDIT CO LLC
- Correspondent: UNKNOWN
- Context: Grant of a security interest, typically for financing or lending arrangements.
2018-07-12 (executed) / recorded 2018-07-12 (estimated) — Reel UNKNOWN/UNKNOWN
- Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
- Assignor: UNILOC LUXEMBOURG S.A.
- Assignee: UNILOC 2017 LLC
- Correspondent: UNKNOWN
- Context: Transfer of patent rights within the Uniloc family of entities.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 8724622
    2012 : Application filed by Empire IP
    2013 : Assigned to Empire IP LLC
    2014 : Patent granted
    2016 : Assigned to Uniloc Luxembourg SA
         : Security interest to Fortress Credit
    2018 : Assigned to Uniloc 2017 LLC
    2023 : Patent Expired

NPE / troll-pattern signals

Shell-entity transfer — Present.
- 2013-07-31 assignment to EMPIRE IP LLC. Empire IP LLC operates as a patent monetization firm with no products or sales, and its business model explicitly involves generating revenue through patent licensing and litigation.
- 2016-06-10 assignment to UNILOC LUXEMBOURG S.A. (and subsequently UNILOC 2017 LLC). Uniloc entities are widely known as patent assertion entities. The entity names themselves (e.g., "IP LLC," "2017 LLC") are also characteristic.
Known asserter in the chain — Present.
- Empire IP LLC (assignee on 2013-07-31) is a known patent monetization firm and serial litigant.
- Uniloc 2017 LLC (current assignee since 2018-07-12) is also a well-known patent assertion entity. Unified Patents explicitly lists "Uniloc 2017 LLC" as the petitioner in multiple IPRs for this patent, indicating their role as an asserter. [cite: US8724622B2]
Repeat correspondent across the chain — Unclear.
- Correspondent information is not available in the provided Google Patents legal events. A live USPTO Assignment Center search would be needed to determine this.
Cascading transfers — Present.
- The transfer from Empire IP, LLC to UNILOC LUXEMBOURG S.A. on 2016-06-10, followed quickly by a Security Interest granted by Uniloc entities to FORTRESS CREDIT CO LLC on 2016-06-27 (within 17 days), and then a further assignment to UNILOC 2017 LLC on 2018-07-12, demonstrates multiple transfers and a financing event within a relatively short period, indicative of portfolio management and monetization strategies by NPEs.
Pre-litigation transfer — Present.
- The first district court litigation found in the provided text, case 2:16-cv-00892 in Texas Eastern District Court, was filed in 2016. The assignment from Empire IP, LLC to UNILOC LUXEMBOURG S.A. on 2016-06-10 precedes the numerous 2016 district court cases (e.g., 2:16-cv-00638, 2:16-cv-00892) identified in the litigation summary. This transfer occurred just before or concurrently with the initiation of extensive litigation campaigns in 2016 by Uniloc entities.
Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present.
- There is no indication in the provided information that any of the assignors filed for bankruptcy.
Privateering — Unclear.
- While both Empire IP and Uniloc are known asserters, the original inventor's employer at filing is not specified, making it difficult to determine if an operating company transferred the patent to an NPE to assert on its behalf against competitors.
Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present.
- The chain ends with Uniloc 2017 LLC, a known patent assertion entity, not a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence

This verdict is based on multiple strong signals: the patent has been held by and transferred between known patent assertion entities, Empire IP LLC and Uniloc 2017 LLC, as evidenced by the assignments on 2013-07-31 to Empire IP LLC and 2018-07-12 to Uniloc 2017 LLC. Both entities are explicitly identified as monetization firms with no product sales. Additionally, the assignment to Uniloc Luxembourg S.A. on 2016-06-10 occurred shortly before or alongside a significant wave of patent litigation against various defendants in 2016, indicating pre-litigation transfer for assertion purposes.

Link to USPTO Assignment Center Search for US8724622