Patent 8993384

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 (2)

Asserters network →

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

  1. 2013-06-09 · reel 030573/0820 · Assignment of Assignors Interest

    Hung, Yu-Hsiang; Fu, Ssu-I; Chang, Chung-Fu; Chen, Cheng-Guo; Lin, Chien-TingUNITED MICROELECTRONICS CORP., TAIWAN

    internal reorg

  2. 2023-10-13 · recorded 2023-10-20 · reel 065294/0055 · Assignment of Assignors Interest

    United Microelectronics Corp.MARLIN SEMICONDUCTOR LIMITED, IRELAND

    transfer-to-asserter

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

  • Yu-Hsiang Hung: United Microelectronics Corp [cite: Original Patent Text]
  • Ssu-I Fu: United Microelectronics Corp [cite: Original Patent Text]
  • Chung-Fu Chang: United Microelectronics Corp [cite: Original Patent Text]
  • Cheng-Guo Chen: United Microelectronics Corp [cite: Original Patent Text]
  • Chien-Ting Lin: United Microelectronics Corp [cite: Original Patent Text]

All inventors were employed by United Microelectronics Corp at the time of filing.

Original assignee

The original assignee on the issued patent was United Microelectronics Corp (UMC). [cite: Original Patent Text] UMC is a major Taiwanese semiconductor foundry company that manufactures integrated circuits for various applications, indicating they ship products embodying the claims. UMC is currently operating.

Assignment timeline

USPTO Assignment Center search results for US8993384:

  • 2013-06-09 (executed) / recorded 2013-06-09 — Reel 030573/0820

    • Conveyance: Assignment of Assignors Interest
    • Assignor: Hung, Yu-Hsiang; Fu, Ssu-I; Chang, Chung-Fu; Chen, Cheng-Guo; Lin, Chien-Ting (all inventors)
    • Assignee: UNITED MICROELECTRONICS CORP., TAIWAN
    • Correspondent: Not specified in the provided text.
    • Context: Original assignment from inventors to the initial corporate assignee.

  • 2023-10-13 (executed) / recorded 2023-10-20 — Reel 065294/0055

    • Conveyance: Assignment of Assignors Interest
    • Assignor: UNITED MICROELECTRONICS CORPORATION
    • Assignee: MARLIN SEMICONDUCTOR LIMITED, IRELAND
    • Correspondent: Not specified in the provided text.
    • Context: Transfer of patent ownership from original assignee to a new entity.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 8993384
    2013 : Inventors assign to UMC
    2015 : Patent issued
    2023 : UMC assigns to Marlin Semiconductor

NPE / troll-pattern signals

  1. Shell-entity transfer — Present. The assignment on 2023-10-13 from UNITED MICROELECTRONICS CORPORATION to MARLIN SEMICONDUCTOR LIMITED, IRELAND [cite: Original Patent Text] suggests a shell entity transfer. [Marlin Semiconductor Ltd.](/litigations/by-defendant/Marlin%20Semiconductor%20Ltd.) is listed as the current assignee. [cite: Original Patent Text] Without evidence of Marlin Semiconductor Ltd. being an operating company that produces products, and given its name and country of incorporation (Ireland, a common jurisdiction for patent holding companies), this is a strong indicator.

  2. Known asserter in the chain — Unclear. Marlin Semiconductor Ltd is the current assignee, and while a PTAB case (IPR2025-01265) has been filed against this patent [cite: Original Patent Text], the provided information does not definitively identify Marlin Semiconductor Ltd as a "known asserter" from standard NPE lists (Acacia Research, Marathon Patent Group, etc.).

  3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Not present. The provided USPTO assignment records do not specify correspondent attorney information for either assignment.

  4. Cascading transfers — Not present. There are only two assignments recorded, with a 10-year gap between them.

  5. Pre-litigation transfer — Unclear. A PTAB case (IPR2025-01265) was filed, but the transfer to Marlin Semiconductor Ltd occurred in October 2023, while the PTAB case was filed in 2025 [cite: Original Patent Text]. This gap is longer than the typical 6-month window for a "pre-litigation transfer" signal.

  6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. There is no indication in the provided information that United Microelectronics Corp (UMC) filed for bankruptcy.

  7. Privateering — Unclear. There is no information in the provided text or the search results to suggest a privateering arrangement.

  8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The current assignee, Marlin Semiconductor Ltd, is not a known defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — moderate confidence

The transfer from United Microelectronics Corporation, an operating company, to Marlin Semiconductor Limited, an entity without a readily apparent product line and incorporated in Ireland, is a strong indicator of a shell-entity transfer [cite: Original Patent Text]. While there are no repeat correspondents or cascading transfers to further solidify the NPE classification, the nature of the assignee change strongly suggests an assertion-focused strategy.

Generated 5/19/2026, 12:46:47 PM