Patent 9116908B2

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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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

  • James J. Fallon (likely employed by Realtime Data LLC at the time of filing, as he is the inventor on multiple related patents assigned to the entity).

Original assignee

The original assignee on the issued patent US9116908B2 is Realtime Data LLC.

Realtime Data LLC is primarily involved in intellectual property licensing and patent assertion, particularly concerning data compression and encoding technologies. They have been described as a "prolific patent assertion entity" with a broad portfolio. As of the latest information, Realtime Data LLC appears to be an active entity engaged in patent enforcement.

Assignment timeline

There are no assignment records for US9116908B2 found on the USPTO Assignment Center. This indicates that the original assignee, Realtime Data LLC, likely still owns the patent.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 9116908B2
    1999 : Priority Date US 09/266,394
    2014 : Application filed by Realtime Data LLC
    2015 : Issued to Realtime Data LLC

NPE / troll-pattern signals

  1. Shell-entity transfer — unclear. While Realtime Data LLC has been identified as a "prolific patent assertion entity", the absence of recorded assignments prevents direct observation of transfers from an operating company to a shell entity for this specific patent.
  2. Known asserter in the chain — present. Realtime Data LLC is a known patent assertion entity (PAE). They have filed numerous infringement actions asserting a portfolio of data compression and encoding patents.
  3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — not present. No assignment records are available to identify recurring correspondents.
  4. Cascading transfers — not present. No assignment records are available.
  5. Pre-litigation transfer — unclear. While the patent has been asserted in litigation, the absence of assignment records makes it impossible to determine if any transfer occurred within 6 months prior to the first suit.
  6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. There is no indication that Realtime Data LLC has filed for bankruptcy or that this patent was part of a fire-sale.
  7. Privateering — unclear. No information is available to suggest privateering activity for this patent.
  8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. There is no indication that the patent has been acquired by a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence. Realtime Data LLC, the original and (based on available records) current assignee, is explicitly identified as a "prolific patent assertion entity" that actively enforces its broad portfolio of data compression and encoding patents through litigation. This directly aligns with the characteristics of a Non-Practicing Entity.

Verification: USPTO Assignment Center search for US9116908B2.

Generated 5/29/2026, 9:04:09 PM