Assignment history

Inventors

• Manuel Antonio d'Abreu: Based on professional history, d'Abreu was a Senior Director of Architecture at SanDisk at the time of the invention.
• Xinde Hu: Based on professional history, Hu was a Design Engineer at SanDisk at the time of the invention.

There are no unusual patterns, such as immediate departures, associated with the inventors. Both were long-term employees of the original assignee, SanDisk.

Original assignee

The patent was originally assigned to SanDisk Technologies Inc., which was the intellectual property holding subsidiary for SanDisk Corporation. SanDisk was a major operating company and a pioneer in the flash memory market, manufacturing and selling a wide range of products including SSDs, memory cards, and USB drives that directly embodied the type of 3D memory technology described in the patent. SanDisk Corporation was acquired by Western Digital in 2016 and continues as a brand under Western Digital.

Assignment timeline

• 2014-05-08 (executed) / recorded 2014-05-22 — Reel 033236/0403
  • Conveyance: Assignment of Assignors Interest
  • Assignor: Manuel Antonio d'Abreu; Xinde Hu
  • Assignee: SanDisk Technologies Inc.
  • Correspondent: Lerner, David, Littenberg, Krumholz & Mentlik, LLP, 600 South Avenue West, Westfield, NJ 07090
  • Context: Standard assignment from inventors to their employer at the time of filing.
• 2016-04-18 (executed) / recorded 2016-05-25 — Reel 038036/0114
  • Conveyance: Change of Name
  • Assignor: SanDisk Technologies Inc.
  • Assignee: SanDisk Technologies LLC
  • Correspondent: The FPL Law Group, P.C., 4880 Stevens Creek Blvd., Suite 201, San Jose, CA 95129
  • Context: An internal corporate name change, likely part of restructuring related to the acquisition by Western Digital.
• 2024-08-15 (executed) / recorded 2024-08-15 — Reel 074661/0805
  • Conveyance: Assignment of Assignors Interest
  • Assignor: SanDisk Technologies LLC
  • Assignee: Palisade Technologies, LLP
  • Correspondent: David L. O'Dell, SOREY, GILLILAND & O'DELL, PLLC, 100 N. Broadway Ave., Ste 2460, Oklahoma City, OK 73102
  • Context: Transfer of the patent from the original operating company's successor to a known patent assertion entity.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 8996838
    2014 : Filed by inventors
         : Assigned to SanDisk Technologies Inc
    2015 : Patent Issued
    2016 : Name change to SanDisk Technologies LLC
    2024 : Assigned to Palisade Technologies LLP
         : First infringement suit filed
    2025 : IPR filed against patent by Micron
    2026 : Litigation dismissed
         : IPR terminated

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — Present. The patent was transferred from SanDisk Technologies LLC, the IP holding subsidiary of a major product company, to Palisade Technologies, LLP. [cite: Reel 074661/0805]. Palisade is a Texas limited liability partnership with no evidence of producing products, and its sole purpose appears to be patent monetization.

2. Known asserter in the chain — Present. The current assignee, Palisade Technologies, LLP, is identified as a patent assertion entity by industry trackers such as RPX and Unified Patents. This is further confirmed by its litigation activity, including the suit filed against Micron using this patent. [cite: Reel 074661/0805].

3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Not present. Each of the three recorded transactions used a different correspondent firm. However, the correspondent on the final transfer, David L. O'Dell of Sorey, Gilliland & O'Dell, PLLC, is from a law firm frequently associated with patent assertion entity litigation.

4. Cascading transfers — Not present. There is only a single transfer from the original assignee's successor to the assertion entity.

5. Pre-litigation transfer — Present. The assignment to Palisade Technologies, LLP was executed and recorded on 2024-08-15. The infringement lawsuit against Micron was filed on 2024-10-16, just two months later. This timing strongly indicates the transfer was made specifically to prepare for and execute an assertion campaign. [cite: Reel 074661/0805].

6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. SanDisk was acquired by Western Digital in a strategic transaction, not a bankruptcy proceeding.

7. Privateering — Not present. The transfer occurred many years after SanDisk ceased to be an independent operating company, making it a divestiture by Western Digital rather than a coordinated assertion effort with the original inventor entity.

8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The assignment chain ends with a patent asserter, not a defensive organization.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence

The verdict of high confidence is driven by multiple, unambiguous signals. The patent was transferred from its original owner to Palisade Technologies, LLP, an entity identified by industry watchdogs as a patent asserter (Reel 074661/0805). This transfer occurred on August 15, 2024, a mere two months before Palisade filed an infringement suit against Micron on October 16, 2024, establishing a clear pre-litigation transfer pattern. The combination of a known asserter in the chain and the timing of the transfer provides conclusive evidence of an NPE monetization model.

Verification Link: USPTO Patent Assignment Search for Pat. No. 8,996,838