Patent 9666732

Assignment history

Inventors, original assignee, and the chain of ownership recorded with the USPTO — including the correspondent attorney who recorded each assignment, since shell-LLC chains often share one repeat-player attorney even when the entity names look unrelated. Surfaces NPE / patent-troll patterns: shell-entity transfers, known asserters in the chain, repeat correspondent fingerprints, pre-litigation assignments, and bankruptcy fire-sales.

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Ownership chain (3)

Asserters network →

Structured records extracted from the assignment-history narrative below. Each entity links to its full ownership-network profile.

  1. 2015-08-19 · Assignment

    DECEUSTER, DENIS; SCHULTZ-WITTMANN, OLIVERTETRASUN, INC.

    Original assignment from inventors to the filing entity

  2. 2025-02-24 · Assignment

    TETRASUN, INC.FIRST SOLAR, INC.

    Acquisition

  3. 2025-09-11 · Patent Security Agreement

    FIRST SOLAR, INC.JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A.

    Securitization

Assignment history

Inventors, original assignee, and the chain of ownership recorded with the USPTO — including the correspondent attorney who recorded each assignment, since shell-LLC chains often share one repeat-player attorney even when the entity names look unrelated. Surfaces NPE / patent-troll patterns: shell-entity transfers, known asserters in the chain, repeat correspondent fingerprints, pre-litigation assignments, and bankruptcy fire-sales.

✓ Generated

Inventors

  • Oliver Schultz-Wittmann: Tetrasun Inc.
  • Denis DeCEUSTER: Tetrasun Inc.

It is noted that both inventors remained with Tetrasun Inc. at the time of the initial assignment, showing no immediate departure pattern.

Original assignee

The original assignee named on the issued patent is Tetrasun Inc. Based on available information, Tetrasun Inc. was a solar cell technology company. Its current status is acquired by First Solar Inc..

Assignment timeline

  • 2015-08-19 (executed) / recorded 2015-08-19

    • Conveyance: Assignment
    • Assignor: DECEUSTER, DENIS; SCHULTZ-WITTMANN, OLIVER
    • Assignee: TETRASUN, INC.
    • Correspondent: Not recorded.
    • Context: Original assignment from inventors to the filing entity.

  • 2025-02-24 (executed) / recorded 2025-02-24

    • Conveyance: Assignment
    • Assignor: TETRASUN, INC.
    • Assignee: FIRST SOLAR, INC.
    • Correspondent: Not recorded.
    • Context: Acquisition of Tetrasun Inc. or its assets by First Solar Inc.

  • 2025-09-11 (executed) / recorded 2025-09-11

    • Conveyance: Patent Security Agreement
    • Assignor: FIRST SOLAR INC.
    • Assignee: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A.
    • Correspondent: Not recorded.
    • Context: Securitization of the patent as collateral for financing.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 9666732
    2015 : Inventors to Tetrasun Inc
    2017 : Issued
    2025 : Tetrasun Inc to First Solar Inc
         : First Solar Inc to JPMorgan Chase Bank

NPE / troll-pattern signals

  1. Shell-entity transfer — Not present. The transfers are to known operating companies (Tetrasun, First Solar) or a financial institution (JPMorgan Chase Bank) for securitization.
  2. Known asserter in the chain — Not present. Neither Tetrasun Inc., First Solar Inc., nor JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. are identified as known NPEs in public lists.
  3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Unclear. The correspondent information is not available in the provided legal event history for any of the assignments.
  4. Cascading transfers — Not present. There are two assignments and one security agreement over a 10-year period, which does not indicate cascading transfers. The two assignments and the security agreement are spaced out.
  5. Pre-litigation transfer — Unclear. While a US case was filed in Delaware District Court (1:25-cv-00462) in 2025, the exact filing date is not provided, making it difficult to definitively assess if the transfer to First Solar Inc. (February 2025) or the security agreement with JPMorgan Chase Bank (September 2025) occurred within 6 months before the first infringement suit was filed.
  6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. There is no indication of bankruptcy proceedings for Tetrasun Inc. or First Solar Inc. related to the patent transfers.
  7. Privateering — Not present. There is no evidence in the provided information to suggest privateering.
  8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The chain does not terminate at a known defensive aggregator.

Verdict

Operating-company assertion The patent was assigned from the original inventor-founded company (Tetrasun Inc.) to First Solar Inc., a known operating company in the solar industry. The subsequent security agreement with JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. is a common financial arrangement for operating companies. While litigation is noted, it appears to involve an operating company as the patent owner.

USPTO Assignment Center search page: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/

Generated 5/22/2026, 6:48:34 AM