Assignment history

Inventors

• Kazuki Oono: GREE Inc. (employer at time of filing). No unusual patterns detected.

Original assignee

GREE Inc. was the original assignee. GREE Inc. (now GREE Holdings, Inc.) is a Japanese social media and video game company that operates a social network service and develops, operates, and distributes various smartphone and consumer games. They have diversified into Metaverse, IP, DX, and Investment businesses. The company is publicly traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TYO: 3632) and is currently operating as GREE Holdings, Inc. The patent pertains to game control methods for social games, which aligns directly with their primary line of business.

Assignment timeline

• 2018-01-22 (executed) / recorded 2018-01-31 — Reel 044810/0675
  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: OONO, KAZUKI
  • Assignee: GREE, INC.
  • Correspondent: GREE, INC., Attn: Patent Dept. 6-10-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo, JP 106-6112
  • Context: Internal transfer of inventor's rights to the original assignee.
• 2021-03-05 (executed) / recorded 2021-03-10 — Reel 056461/0816
  • Conveyance: Security Interest
  • Assignor: GREE, INC.
  • Assignee: NSF I LLC
  • Correspondent: BAE, JENNIFER J, SHARKIS PATENTS PLLC, 1250 BROADWAY, 36TH FLOOR, NEW YORK, NY 10001
  • Context: Securitization of the patent as collateral.
• 2025-05-16 (executed) / recorded 2025-05-16 — Reel 071303/0337
  • Conveyance: Change of Name
  • Assignor: GREE, INC.
  • Assignee: GREE HOLDINGS, INC.
  • Correspondent: KENNY JUNG, REICHMAN JUNG PLLC, 355 LEXINGTON AVE. 17TH FLOOR, NEW YORK, NY 10017
  • Context: Corporate name change.
• 2025-06-05 (executed) / recorded 2025-06-10 — Reel 071477/0936
  • Conveyance: Corrective Assignment
  • Assignor: GREE, INC.
  • Assignee: GREE HOLDINGS, INC.
  • Correspondent: KENNY JUNG, REICHMAN JUNG PLLC, 355 LEXINGTON AVE. 17TH FLOOR, NEW YORK, NY 10017 (Kenny Jung, Reichman Jung PLLC recurs in this chain)
  • Context: Corrective assignment to update details following the name change.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 9561439
    2015 : Filed by GREE Inc
    2017 : Issued to GREE Inc
    2018 : Inventor assigned to GREE Inc
    2019 : First infringement suit filed
    2021 : Security interest to NSF I LLC
    2025 : GREE Inc changes name to GREE Holdings Inc
         : Corrective assignment for name change

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — unclear. A security interest was granted to NSF I LLC [cite: Reel 056461/0816]. There is no public information indicating NSF I LLC is a shell entity or has asserted patents. The patent is currently owned by an operating company, GREE Holdings, Inc.
2. Known asserter in the chain — not present. NSF I LLC is not identified as a known patent asserter by Unified Patents or RPX Insurance.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — present. Kenny Jung of Reichman Jung PLLC appears on two consecutive recordings (Reel 071303/0337 and Reel 071477/0936) related to GREE, INC.'s corporate name change and subsequent corrective assignment. This recurrence is associated with internal corporate actions of an operating company.
4. Cascading transfers — not present. The transfers involve internal corporate actions and one security interest, not multiple consecutive assignments through chained LLCs in a short timeframe.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — not present. The first identified litigation related to this patent family was filed in the Texas Eastern District Court on September 27, 2019 (case 2:19-cv-00311). This occurred while GREE, Inc. (the original operating company assignee) owned the patent, prior to the security interest granted in 2021.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. GREE Holdings, Inc. is an active, publicly traded company.
7. Privateering — not present. No evidence suggests GREE transferred the patent to an NPE to assert on its behalf against competitors.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The patent is not currently owned by a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

Operating-company assertion
The patent was involved in litigation (US case 2:19-cv-00311 in Texas Eastern District Court) filed on September 27, 2019, when GREE, Inc. was the assignee. GREE Inc. (now GREE Holdings, Inc.) is a practicing entity that ships products embodying the claims. The subsequent security interest to NSF I LLC and the corporate name change do not indicate a shift to NPE assertion.

Verification: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/patent/index.html (search for patent number 9561439)