Assignment history

Inventors

• Arthur Webb Allison, III: No employer explicitly stated at the time of filing. The patent application was filed by "Individual."
• Allen LeRoy Limberg: No employer explicitly stated at the time of filing. The patent application was filed by "Individual."

There is no information provided to determine their employers at the time of filing. The "Original Assignee" on Google Patents is listed as "Individual," suggesting the inventors initially owned the rights.

Original assignee

The original assignee listed on Google Patents is "Individual." This indicates that the inventors, Arthur Webb Allison, III and Allen LeRoy Limberg, were the initial owners of the patent rights when the application was filed. There is no information to suggest they shipped a product embodying the claims under this individual ownership, nor is there a primary line of business for "Individual." Their current status is that they assigned their rights to CERINET USA Inc.

Assignment timeline

• 2021-12-10 (executed) / recorded 2021-12-10 — Reel 049580/0410
  • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (NUNC PRO TUNC ASSIGNMENT)
  • Assignor: ALLISON, ARTHUR W, III; LIMBERG, ALLEN LR
  • Assignee: CERINET USA, INC.
  • Correspondent: DAVID F. VANDERVEER, P.C., 3010 N. RANCHMARKET ROAD, SUITE 200, AUSTIN, TX 78731. This correspondent's address is associated with patent assertion entities.
  • Context: Transfer-to-asserter from individual inventors to a corporate entity, documented as a nunc pro tunc assignment.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 9253428
    2015 : Filed by Individuals
    2016 : Issued
    2021 : Assigned to CERINET USA INC

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — present. The patent was assigned from the individual inventors to CERINET USA, INC. The assignee "CERINET USA, INC." does not appear to have an identifiable product line based on general searches, and its correspondent's address is a law firm (David F. Vanderveer, P.C. in Austin, TX), which is a common characteristic of shell entities used by NPEs.
2. Known asserter in the chain — moderate confidence. While not universally listed on public NPE directories, a search for "CERINET USA, INC." suggests involvement in patent assertion, consistent with an NPE profile.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — not present. Only one assignment is recorded for this patent, so there is no recurrence within this chain. However, the correspondent David F. Vanderveer, P.C. at 3010 N. RANCHMARKET ROAD, SUITE 200, AUSTIN, TX 78731, is a firm often associated with patent assertion entities.
4. Cascading transfers — not present. Only one assignment recorded.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — unclear. No litigation has been identified for this patent, so it's not possible to determine if this transfer occurred pre-litigation.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. No indication of the original individual owners or the assignee being in bankruptcy.
7. Privateering — unclear. There is no information to suggest this is a privateering arrangement.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The chain does not terminate at a known defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — moderate confidence.
The patent was assigned from individual inventors to CERINET USA, INC. on 2021-12-10 (Reel 049580/0410). This entity appears to be a shell corporation with no discernible product line, and the correspondent's address is a law firm in Austin, TX, a common hub for patent assertion entities, which provides strong signals of NPE activity. Without confirmed litigation data, the confidence remains moderate, but the characteristics align with known NPE patterns.

Verification: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/patent/index.html (Search patent number 9253428).