Assignment history

Inventors

• Chin-I Liao (United Microelectronics Corp.)
• Chun-Yu Chen (United Microelectronics Corp.)

Original assignee

United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) is a Taiwanese semiconductor foundry company. Their primary line of business is the manufacturing of integrated circuits for other companies. UMC ships a wide range of products embodying various semiconductor technologies, including FinFETs, which are the subject of this patent. UMC is currently operating.

Assignment timeline

• 2015-03-04 (executed) / recorded 2015-03-04 — Reel 035080/0575
  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: Liao, Chin-I; Chen, Chun-Yu
  • Assignee: United Microelectronics Corp.
  • Correspondent: Patent Attorney, Morris Chang, No. 3, Li-Hsin Rd. II, Hsinchu Science Park, Hsinchu 300, Taiwan, R.O.C.
  • Context: Original 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: Brian M. Berliner, O'Melveny & Myers LLP, 400 South Hope Street, Los Angeles, CA 90071
  • Context: Transfer to a likely asserting entity.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 9337193
    2015 : Assigned to UMC
    2016 : Patent issued
    2021 : Assigned to Marlin Semiconductor

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — present. The assignment from United Microelectronics Corporation to Marlin Semiconductor Limited (Reel 056991/0292) is a strong signal. Marlin Semiconductor Limited does not appear to be an operating company, suggesting it is a licensing-only entity.
2. Known asserter in the chain — unclear. While Marlin Semiconductor Limited appears to be a shell entity, it is not listed on publicly available NPE lists from RPX or Unified Patents as of my last update.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — not present. Different correspondents are listed for the two recorded assignments.
4. Cascading transfers — not present. Only one assignment after the initial inventor-to-company transfer is recorded.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — unclear. There is no information provided regarding litigation history to determine if this transfer occurred within 6 months of a first infringement suit.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. There is no indication of United Microelectronics Corp. filing for bankruptcy.
7. Privateering — unclear. While the transfer from UMC to Marlin Semiconductor could be a privateering arrangement, there is no public information or SEC filing data provided to confirm this.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The chain ends with Marlin Semiconductor Limited, which is not a known defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — moderate confidence. The transfer of the patent from an operating company (United Microelectronics Corp.) to Marlin Semiconductor Limited (Reel 056991/0292), which strongly appears to be a shell entity, indicates a likely assertion play. There is no evidence of Marlin Semiconductor Limited being an operating company.

For verification, you can search the USPTO Assignment Center: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/ or https://assignment.uspto.gov/patent/index.html.