Assignment history

Inventors

The sole named inventor is Nick Bovis. The patent application was filed by an individual, and there is no employer or corporate assignee listed at the time of filing. There are no unusual patterns, such as multiple inventors from a single operating company, to note.

Original assignee

The original assignee listed on the issued patent is Individual, corresponding to the inventor, Nick Bovis. There is no evidence that the original assignee developed or shipped a commercial product embodying the patent's claims.

Assignment timeline

• 2015-05-18 (executed) / recorded 2015-05-20 — Reel 035203/0849

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: Bovis, Nick
  • Assignee: SMTM Technologies, LLC
  • Correspondent: Matthew W. Booth, The Booth Law Office, PLC, 521 Sixth Street, Traverse City, MI, 49684. This correspondent recurs on all subsequent assignments for this patent.
  • Context: The inventor transferred the patent to a newly formed entity, SMTM Technologies, LLC, likely for assertion purposes.

• 2021-05-19 (executed) / recorded 2021-05-24 — Reel 056331/0019

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: SMTM Technology, LLC
  • Assignee: TJTM Technology, LLC
  • Correspondent: Matthew W. Booth, The Booth Law Office, PLC, 521 Sixth Street, Traverse City, MI, 49684. This is the same correspondent from the prior assignment.
  • Context: Internal transfer between two holding companies, both managed by the same legal representative, preceding a new wave of litigation.

• 2021-12-10 (executed) / recorded 2021-12-13 — Reel 057053/0763

  • Conveyance: Correction
  • Assignor: SMTM Technology, LLC
  • Assignee: TJTM Technologies, LLC
  • Correspondent: Matthew W. Booth, The Booth Law Office, PLC, 521 Sixth Street, Traverse City, MI, 49684. This is the same correspondent from all prior assignments.
  • Context: A corrective assignment was filed to amend the assignee's name and address from the May 2021 recording, likely to clean up the record for litigation standing.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 8958853
    2013 : Priority date established
    2015 : Issued to inventor Nick Bovis
         : Assigned to SMTM Technologies LLC
    2018 : First infringement suit filed by SMTM
    2021 : Assigned to TJTM Technologies LLC
         : New infringement suits filed by TJTM
    2026 : CAFC affirms patent is invalid

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — present. The patent was transferred from its individual inventor to "SMTM Technologies, LLC" and subsequently to "TJTM Technologies, LLC" (Reels 035203/0849 and 056331/0019). These names are typical of non-operating patent holding companies, and their sole known activity is patent litigation.

2. Known asserter in the chain — present. Both SMTM Technologies, LLC and TJTM Technologies, LLC are patent assertion entities, as evidenced by the multiple infringement lawsuits they have filed against Apple, Samsung, and Google.

3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — present. A single attorney, Matthew W. Booth of The Booth Law Office, PLC, acted as the correspondent for every recorded assignment in the chain (Reels 035203/0849, 056331/0019, and 057053/0763). This is a strong indicator that the series of LLCs are controlled or managed by the same ultimate party for the purpose of assertion.

4. Cascading transfers — present. The assignment from SMTM to TJTM (May 2021) and the subsequent corrective assignment (December 2021) constitute multiple transfers within a 7-month period, suggesting a restructuring in preparation for or during litigation campaigns.

5. Pre-litigation transfer — present. The transfer from SMTM Technology, LLC to TJTM Technology, LLC was executed on May 19, 2021. Less than two months later, on July 16, 2021, TJTM filed its first lawsuit (against Samsung). This timing strongly indicates the transfer was made to prepare the patent for assertion by the new entity.

6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. The original assignee was an individual and there is no record of bankruptcy proceedings.

7. Privateering — not present. The patent did not originate with an operating company transferring it to an NPE to sue its competitors.

8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The patent has been actively asserted and has not been acquired by any known defensive entity.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence

The ownership history of this patent exhibits at least five distinct and strong signals of NPE activity. The transfer from an individual inventor to a series of generically named LLCs (Reel 035203/0849, 056331/0019), the use of the same correspondent attorney for all transfers, and the timing of an assignment just months before a new litigation campaign (May 2021 transfer preceding July 2021 lawsuit) create a clear and compelling pattern of patent assertion by a non-practicing entity.

Verification of the assignment records is available at the USPTO Patent Assignment Search page for US 8,958,853.