Assignment history

Inventors

• Gregory G. Raleigh: Co-founder, Headwater Partners I LLC. Raleigh is a noted radio scientist and entrepreneur who also founded Clarity Wireless (acquired by Cisco) and Airgo Networks (acquired by Qualcomm).
• James Lavine: Co-founder, Headwater Partners I LLC.
• Alireza Raissinia: Co-founder, Headwater Partners I LLC.

All inventors were principals of the original assignee at the time of the patent application. This is a common pattern for inventor-led technology development and licensing companies.

Original assignee

The original assignee is Headwater Partners I LLC. The company was a technology innovation firm founded in late 2008. Evidence suggests it did not ship commercial products but focused on developing and holding patents. The entity was later merged into Headwater Research LLC as part of a corporate reorganization.

Assignment timeline

• 2015-03-30 (executed) / recorded 2015-04-09 — Reel 034898/0746

  • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
  • Assignor: Gregory G. Raleigh, James Lavine, Alireza Raissinia
  • Assignee: Headwater Partners I LLC
  • Correspondent: BRETT S. HALTER, ESQ., HALTER, A PROFESSIONAL LAW CORPORATION, 1851 EAST FIRST STREET, SUITE 950, SANTA ANA, CA 92705
  • Context: This is a pro-forma assignment from the inventors to the company they founded.

• 2017-01-04 (executed) / recorded 2017-01-20 — Reel 040001/0183

  • Conveyance: MERGER AND CHANGE OF NAME
  • Assignor: Headwater Partners I LLC; Headwater Management LLC
  • Assignee: Headwater Research LLC
  • Correspondent: RUSS WEINZIMMER, RUSS WEINZIMMER & ASSOCIATES PC, 670 N. ROSEMEAD BLVD., PASADENA, CA 91107
  • Context: An internal corporate reorganization merging two entities into Headwater Research LLC, which subsequently became the plaintiff in numerous infringement lawsuits.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 9179359
    2009 : Priority date
    2015 : Issued to Headwater Partners I LLC
    2017 : Merger into Headwater Research LLC
    2022 : Headwater begins litigation campaign
    2023 : First suit naming this patent family
    2024 : IPR petition filed against patent family
    2025 : Multiple new suits filed vs wireless carriers

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer: PRESENT
   The transfer from Headwater Partners I LLC to Headwater Research LLC (Reel 040001/0183) was a move to consolidate intellectual property into what is now a dedicated assertion entity. Headwater Research LLC's business model, evidenced by its extensive litigation campaigns, is patent licensing and enforcement, not the production of goods or services.

2. Known asserter in the chain: PRESENT
   The current assignee, Headwater Research LLC, is a well-known and prolific patent asserter. It has filed numerous lawsuits against major technology and telecommunications companies, including Samsung, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon, and is frequently tracked by industry sources like RPX and Unified Patents. The company has won significant verdicts, including awards of $278.8 million against Samsung and $175 million against Verizon.

3. Repeat correspondent across the chain: NOT PRESENT
   The two recorded assignments were handled by different law firms. No single correspondent appears multiple times in the chain for this patent.

4. Cascading transfers: NOT PRESENT
   There is only one recorded transfer, which was a name change and merger, not a rapid sequence of sales between different entities.

5. Pre-litigation transfer: NOT PRESENT
   The assignment to Headwater Research LLC was recorded on 2017-01-20. The company's litigation campaign began in October 2022, nearly six years later, indicating the transfer was not for the immediate purpose of filing a lawsuit.

6. Bankruptcy fire-sale: NOT PRESENT
   The assignment record shows no evidence of a transfer resulting from bankruptcy proceedings.

7. Privateering: NOT PRESENT
   The inventor, Gregory Raleigh, is a principal of the asserting entity, Headwater Research LLC. This is a case of an inventor monetizing his own patent portfolio directly, not an operating company transferring patents to a third-party NPE to sue its competitors.

8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE): NOT PRESENT
   The patent is held by an assertion entity and has been the subject of multiple lawsuits and IPRs, not acquired for defensive purposes.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence

The current assignee, Headwater Research LLC, is a well-documented, high-frequency patent asserter that does not manufacture products. The company was formed from the merger of the original assignee, an entity created by the inventors to hold their intellectual property (Reel 040001/0183). Headwater Research has since initiated a large-scale litigation campaign asserting this and related patents, resulting in multiple major lawsuits and significant jury verdicts against leading technology companies. This pattern of behavior is the definitive model of a non-practicing entity.

Verify at: USPTO Patent Assignment Search for US 9179359