Assignment history

Inventors

• Lung-En Kuo (United Microelectronics Corp.)
• Po-Wen Su (United Microelectronics Corp.)
• Chen-Yi Weng (United Microelectronics Corp.)
• Hsuan-Hsu Chen (United Microelectronics Corp.)

All inventors were employees of United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) at the time of filing, as indicated by the initial assignment to UMC well before the patent's filing date. No unusual patterns suggest departure of inventors or a pre-sale of the portfolio.

Original assignee

The original assignee on the issued patent is United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC). UMC is a major global semiconductor foundry, manufacturing integrated circuits for various applications. They ship products embodying the claims as a foundry that produces FinFETs. UMC is currently an operating company.

Assignment timeline

• 2013-03-26 to 2013-04-08 (executed) / recorded 2014-08-28 — Reel 033625/0029

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: Lung-En Kuo, Po-Wen Su, Chen-Yi Weng, Hsuan-Hsu Chen
  • Assignee: United Microelectronics Corp.
  • Correspondent: Not listed on USPTO assignment record details.
  • Context: Standard initial assignment from inventors to their employer.

• 2021-06-18 (executed) / recorded 2021-07-26 — Reel 056991/0292

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: United Microelectronics Corporation
  • Assignee: Marlin Semiconductor Limited
  • Correspondent: ANTHONY F. MCCARTY, CANTOR COLBURN LLP, 20 CHURCH STREET 22ND FLOOR, HARTFORD, CT 06103.
  • Context: Transfer of patent ownership from an operating company to a potential assertion entity.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 9117909
    2013 : Inventors assign to UMC
    2014 : Filed by UMC
    2015 : Issued to UMC
    2021 : Assigned to Marlin Semiconductor

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — Present. The patent was transferred from United Microelectronics Corporation (an operating company) to Marlin Semiconductor Limited (Reel 056991/0292, executed 2021-06-18 / recorded 2021-07-26). Marlin Semiconductor Limited's name and known involvement in litigation (as indicated by the IPR2025-01527 case listed on Google Patents and Unified Patents) strongly suggest it is a licensing-only entity.
2. Known asserter in the chain — Present. Marlin Semiconductor Limited is the current assignee. The Google Patents legal events section for US9117909 indicates "Family has litigation" and explicitly lists a PTAB case IPR2025-01527 against this patent, initiated by Unified Patents (an anti-NPE organization), which is a clear signal of assertion activity.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Unclear. ANTHONY F. MCCARTY of CANTOR COLBURN LLP is listed as the correspondent for the assignment to Marlin Semiconductor Limited (Reel 056991/0292). While Cantor Colburn LLP is a prominent IP firm, and an attorney like Mr. McCarty could be a repeat player for NPEs, there is insufficient information within the scope of this analysis to confirm recurrence across other patent chains or identify them on a specific NPE attorney list.
4. Cascading transfers — Not present. There is only one transfer of ownership (excluding the initial inventor assignment) between operating companies or shell entities, occurring approximately six years after the patent was issued.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — Unclear. The assignment to Marlin Semiconductor Limited occurred on 2021-06-18 (Reel 056991/0292). While the patent has been involved in litigation (e.g., IPR2025-01527 filed in 2025), the specific date of the first infringement suit is not provided in the given patent text or Google Patents snippet to determine if it falls within 6 months of the assignment.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. United Microelectronics Corporation is an active, operating company and there is no indication of bankruptcy.
7. Privateering — Unclear. While the patent was transferred from an operating company (UMC) to an apparent NPE (Marlin Semiconductor), there is no information to suggest this assertion is being conducted on UMC's behalf against its competitors.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The chain terminates with Marlin Semiconductor Limited, which appears to be an asserting entity, not a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence

The patent was transferred from an operating company (United Microelectronics Corporation) to Marlin Semiconductor Limited on 2021-06-18 (Reel 056991/0292). Marlin Semiconductor Limited exhibits strong characteristics of a shell entity, and the patent has been subject to a PTAB challenge (IPR2025-01527), a common response to patent assertion by NPEs.

For verification, see the USPTO Assignment Center search page: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/ (This link is for the latest assignment, search for patent 9117909 directly for all records).