Assignment history

Inventors

• Farooq Khan: Employer at the time of filing is not explicitly stated in the provided patent text. The original assignee was [[Samsung Electronics Co Ltd](/litigations/by-plaintiff/Samsung%20Electronics%20Co%20Ltd).](/litigations/by-plaintiff/Samsung%20Electronics%20Co%20Ltd.)

Original assignee

The original assignee was Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. It is widely known that Samsung Electronics Co Ltd ships a vast array of products embodying wireless communication technologies, which would include technologies related to channel estimation in OFDM networks. Samsung is a global operating company with diverse business lines including electronics, mobile communications, and home appliances. Samsung Electronics Co Ltd is currently operating.

Assignment timeline

The Google Patents record itself lists the following reassignments:

• 2017-09-07 (executed) / recorded 2017-09-07 - Reel 043525/0719
  • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
  • Assignor: KHAN, FAROOQ (Inventor)
  • Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
  • Correspondent: Not specified in Google Patents, requires USPTO Assignment Search for full detail.
  • Context: Internal transfer / formalization of inventor's interest to original assignee.
• 2017-09-08 (executed) / recorded 2017-09-08 - Reel 043537/0837
  • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
  • Assignor: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
  • Assignee: UNWIRED PLANET INTERNATIONAL LIMITED
  • Correspondent: Not specified in Google Patents, requires USPTO Assignment Search for full detail.
  • Context: Transfer-to-asserter.
• 2017-09-09 (executed) / recorded 2017-09-09 - Reel 043539/0864
  • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
  • Assignor: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
  • Assignee: UNWIRED PLANET INTERNATIONAL LIMITED
  • Correspondent: Not specified in Google Patents, requires USPTO Assignment Search for full detail.
  • Context: Confirmatory assignment or related transfer to asserter.

To fully reconstruct the assignment record and identify correspondents, a direct search of the USPTO Assignment Center is necessary. However, since the current time is 2026-05-29, and the patent expired on 2026-03-27, obtaining real-time USPTO Assignment Center data may not be feasible through automated search. Based on the provided prompt and the Google Patents data, the provided reassignments will be used.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 9001774
    2013 : Filed by Samsung Electronics
    2015 : Issued to Samsung
    2017 : Inventor assigned to Samsung
         : Samsung assigned to Unwired Planet
         : Samsung assigned to Unwired Planet
    2026 : Patent Expired

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — present.

   • 2017-09-08 (executed) / recorded 2017-09-08 — Reel 043537/0837
     • Assignee: UNWIRED PLANET INTERNATIONAL LIMITED. Unwired Planet is a known NPE.
   • 2017-09-09 (executed) / recorded 2017-09-09 — Reel 043539/0864
     • Assignee: UNWIRED PLANET INTERNATIONAL LIMITED.

2. Known asserter in the chain — present.

   • 2017-09-08 (executed) / recorded 2017-09-08 — Reel 043537/0837
     • Assignee: UNWIRED PLANET INTERNATIONAL LIMITED. Unwired Planet is widely recognized as a patent assertion entity.
   • 2017-09-09 (executed) / recorded 2017-09-09 — Reel 043539/0864
     • Assignee: UNWIRED PLANET INTERNATIONAL LIMITED.

3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — unclear. The provided Google Patents data does not include correspondent information. A direct USPTO Assignment Center search would be required to determine this.

4. Cascading transfers — not present. There are two assignments to Unwired Planet on consecutive days (September 8 and September 9, 2017), but these appear to be related transfers from the same assignor (Samsung) to the same assignee (Unwired Planet), likely formalizing the same transaction, rather than a chain of transfers through different entities.

5. Pre-litigation transfer — unclear. While the transfer to Unwired Planet occurred in September 2017, the earliest litigation mentioned in the Google Patents record is 2019-cv-00066 filed in Texas Eastern District Court. Without explicit filing dates for all litigation events, it's unclear if the transfer occurred within 6 months of the first assertion of this specific patent family.

6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. Samsung Electronics Co Ltd is an operating company and no bankruptcy event is indicated for them or for Unwired Planet in relation to the patent acquisition.

7. Privateering — unclear. While the transfer is from an operating company (Samsung) to an NPE (Unwired Planet), the specific nature of any agreement between them (e.g., whether Samsung retains an interest in assertion proceeds or directs the litigation) is not discernible from the provided patent text.

8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The chain ends with Unwired Planet International Ltd., a known patent asserter, not a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence. The patent was assigned from an operating company (Samsung Electronics Co Ltd) to Unwired Planet International Limited, which is a widely recognized patent assertion entity. This transfer to a known NPE is a strong signal. The recurring assignment to Unwired Planet in September 2017 (Reel 043537/0837 and Reel 043539/0864) further solidifies this conclusion.

For verification, see the USPTO Assignment Center search page (https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/) and search for patent number US9001774.