Assignment history

Inventors

• Simon Burgess: Co-founder of Ironburg Inventions Ltd.
• Duncan Ironmonger: Co-founder of Ironburg Inventions Ltd.

Both inventors were principals of the original assignee at the time of filing. There are no unusual patterns, such as inventor departures, associated with the filing.

Original Assignee

• Ironburg Inventions Ltd.: A UK-based company founded in 2011. Ironburg Inventions serves as the intellectual property holding company for the controller brand Scuf Gaming. Scuf Gaming was founded with the goal of creating high-performance, customizable controllers, and it successfully commercialized a line of products embodying the claimed invention of back-mounted paddles. Scuf Gaming was acquired by Corsair in 2019 but continues to operate as a distinct brand.

Assignment Timeline

• 2014-07-31 (executed) / recorded 2014-08-15 — Reel 033546/0714

  • Conveyance: SECURITY INTEREST
  • Assignor: IRONBURG INVENTIONS LIMITED
  • Assignee: CHATHAM CAPITAL MANAGEMENT IV, LLC
  • Correspondent: SGR-IP LAW, 1230 PEACHTREE STREET, NE, SUITE 1750, ATLANTA, GA, 30309
  • Context: This was a securitization agreement where the patent was pledged as collateral for financing provided by Chatham Capital, a private investment firm.

• 2015-04-29 (executed) / recorded 2015-05-05 — Reel 035564/0479

  • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
  • Assignor: BURGESS, SIMON (Inventor)
  • Assignee: IRONBURG INVENTIONS LTD.
  • Correspondent: ALSTON & BIRD LLP, 1201 WEST PEACHTREE STREET, ATLANTA, GA, 30309
  • Context: A confirmatory assignment to formalize the company's ownership interest from one of the inventors.

• 2011-06-17 (executed) / recorded 2016-06-14 — Reel 038907/0549

  • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
  • Assignor: IRONMONGER, DUNCAN (Inventor)
  • Assignee: IRONBURG INVENTIONS LTD.
  • Correspondent: IRONBURG INVENTIONS LTD., ATLANTA, GA, 30309
  • Context: A confirmatory assignment, recorded several years after execution, to formalize the company's ownership interest from the second inventor.

• 2016-12-07 (executed) / recorded 2016-12-09 — Reel 040702/0714

  • Conveyance: RELEASE BY SECURED PARTY
  • Assignor: CHATHAM CAPITAL MANAGEMENT IV, LLC
  • Assignee: IRONBURG INVENTIONS LIMITED
  • Correspondent: SMITH, GAMBRELL & RUSSELL, LLP, 1230 PEACHTREE STREET, N.E., SUITE 3100, ATLANTA, GA, 30309
  • Context: Release of the prior security interest, indicating the financing agreement with Chatham Capital was terminated or satisfied.

• 2016-12-07 (executed) / recorded 2016-12-09 — Reel 040878/0527

  • Conveyance: SECURITY INTEREST
  • Assignor: IRONBURG INVENTIONS LIMITED
  • Assignee: TRIANGLE CAPITAL CORPORATION
  • Correspondent: KENNETH R. SITTERSON, JR, TRIANGLE CAPITAL CORPORATION, 3700 GLENWOOD AVENUE, SUITE 530, RALEIGH, NC, 27612
  • Context: A new securitization agreement, pledging the patent as collateral to Triangle Capital Corporation, a specialty finance company.

• 2016-12-07 (executed) / recorded 2016-12-12 — Reel 040884/0057

  • Conveyance: SECURITY INTEREST
  • Assignor: IRONBURG INVENTIONS LIMITED
  • Assignee: TRIANGLE CAPITAL CORPORATION, AS AGENT
  • Correspondent: KENNETH R. SITTERSON, JR., TRIANGLE CAPITAL CORPORATION, 3700 GLENWOOD AVENUE, SUITE 530, RALEIGH, NC, 27612
  • Context: A substantively identical securitization agreement to the one above, with the assignee noted "AS AGENT," likely for a syndicate of lenders.

• 2019-12-19 (executed) / recorded 2020-01-13 — Reel 051569/0397

  • Conveyance: RELEASE BY SECURED PARTY
  • Assignor: BSP AGENCY LLC
  • Assignee: IRONBURG INVENTIONS LIMITED
  • Correspondent: PROCOPIO, CORY, HARGREAVES & SAVITCH LLP, 525 B STREET, SUITE 2200, SAN DIEGO, CA, 92101
  • Context: Release of the security interest previously held by Triangle Capital. Triangle's investment portfolio was sold to an affiliate of Benefit Street Partners (BSP) in 2018. This recording clears the title, returning full ownership to Ironburg.

Timeline Diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 9089770
    2011 : Earliest priority date
    2013 : Application filed
    2014 : Security interest to Chatham Capital
    2015 : Patent issued to Ironburg Inventions
         : First infringement suit filed
    2016 : Chatham interest released
         : Security interest to Triangle Capital
    2020 : Triangle-BSP interest released

NPE / Troll-Pattern Signals

1. Shell-entity transfer: Not Present. Ironburg Inventions Ltd. is the IP holding company for Scuf Gaming, a well-established operating company that manufactures and sells controllers embodying the patent's claims. The patent has not been transferred to a licensing-only LLC with no products.

2. Known asserter in the chain: Not Present. Neither Ironburg Inventions Ltd. nor any of the financial institutions involved in securitization (Chatham Capital, Triangle Capital) are listed as NPEs or patent trolls on public lists maintained by RPX or Unified Patents.

3. Repeat correspondent across the chain: Not Present. The correspondents of record are different for each distinct phase of the patent's assignment history (confirmatory assignments, securitizations, releases). There is no single recurring attorney or firm that would suggest management by an NPE.

4. Cascading transfers: Not Present. The transfers are not rapid, consecutive assignments between different LLCs. They are distinct securitization and release events with legitimate financial institutions, spread out over several years.

5. Pre-litigation transfer: Not Present. The patent has remained with the original assignee, Ironburg Inventions Ltd., throughout its litigation history. The first infringement suit was filed in December 2015, well after the patent issued and with no preceding transfer of ownership.

6. Bankruptcy fire-sale: Not Present. The original assignee, Ironburg, remains a viable entity and was acquired by Corsair in a standard business transaction, not a bankruptcy proceeding.

7. Privateering: Not Present. This is a case of an operating company's IP holding entity directly asserting its own patents. There is no evidence of a transfer to a third-party NPE to assert on its behalf.

8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE): Not Present. The patent is not assigned to any known defensive aggregator.

Verdict

• Operating-company assertion

Justification: The ownership of US 9,089,770 has remained with Ironburg Inventions Ltd., the IP holding company for the manufacturer Scuf Gaming, since its issuance. The assignment record shows only standard securitization agreements with financial institutions, all of which were subsequently released, and confirmatory assignments from the inventors. The litigation involving this patent has been conducted directly by the original assignee, which commercialized the invention, against its competitors.

Verification Link: USPTO Patent Assignment Search for Pat. No. 9,089,770