Assignment history

Inventors

• Guangsheng Zhang: Employer at time of filing not determinable from the patent text.
• Chizhong Zhang: Employer at time of filing not determinable from the patent text.

The patent lists "Individual" as the original assignee at the time of application filing (2012-12-10). It is not explicitly stated whether the inventors were employed by a specific company at the time or if they filed as individuals. There is no information provided in the patent text to suggest inventors departing an original assignee.

Original assignee

The entity named as the "Original Assignee" on the Google Patents record is "Individual". The patent text does not indicate that this "Individual" shipped a product embodying the claims, nor does it specify their primary line of business. The current status of this "Individual" as an assignee is "transferred", as the patent has since been assigned to Linfo Ip LLC.

Assignment timeline

The USPTO Assignment Center was searched for patent number 9092428.

• 2021-06-02 (executed) / recorded 2021-08-09 — Reel 056461/0890
  • Conveyance: Assignment of Assignor's Interest
  • Assignor: ZHANG, CHIZONG; ZHANG, GUANGSHENG (Inventors)
  • Assignee: LINFO IP LLC
  • Correspondent: WILLIAM P RAMEY III, RAMEY LLP, 5020 MONTROSE BLVD, SUITE 800, HOUSTON, TX, 77006. This correspondent, William P. Ramey III of Ramey LLP, is known to represent Linfo IP LLC in multiple patent infringement lawsuits, as seen in various search results.
  • Context: Transfer to a patent assertion entity.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 9092428
    2012 : Filed by Individual
    2015 : Issued to Individual
    2021 : Assigned to Linfo IP LLC

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — Present. The patent was assigned to Linfo IP LLC. Linfo IP LLC is described as a "patent assertion entity (PAE) whose business model centers on acquiring and enforcing IP rights" and that "Holds no disclosed manufacturing or product presence." Its address is associated with its legal counsel, Ramey LLP, in Houston, Texas, and it is a Texas limited liability company. Unified Patents also identifies Linfo IP LLC as an NPE.
2. Known asserter in the chain — Present. Linfo IP LLC is identified by Unified Patents as an NPE (Non-Practicing Entity) and a subsidiary of Dynamic IP Deals, LLC. RPX also lists Linfo IP, LLC as a plaintiff in patent infringement cases.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Present. William P. Ramey III of Ramey LLP is the correspondent of record for the assignment to Linfo IP LLC (Reel 056461/0890). William P. Ramey III and Ramey LLP are frequently associated with Linfo IP LLC's patent litigation activities.
4. Cascading transfers — Not present. There is only one recorded assignment for this patent.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — Unclear. The assignment to Linfo IP LLC was recorded on August 9, 2021. While Linfo IP LLC has filed numerous lawsuits on this and other patents, some lawsuits related to US9092428 started in 2022 (e.g., April 2022), which is more than six months after the assignment. However, given Linfo IP LLC's business model as a PAE, it is highly probable that the acquisition was made with the intent to assert.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. There is no indication of the original assignor (the individual inventors) undergoing bankruptcy proceedings.
7. Privateering — Not present. There is no evidence suggesting an operating company transferred the patent to Linfo IP LLC to assert on its behalf against competitors.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The chain ends with Linfo IP LLC, which is a known patent assertion entity.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence. The patent was assigned from the inventors to Linfo IP LLC (Reel 056461/0890, recorded 2021-08-09), an entity widely recognized as a patent assertion entity (NPE) by Unified Patents and RPX. The use of "IP LLC" in its name, its description as lacking disclosed operational products, and its pattern of extensive litigation activity, often represented by the same legal counsel (William P. Ramey III of Ramey LLP), strongly indicate an NPE model.

For verification, you can search the USPTO Assignment Center at https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/ by patent number 9092428.