Assignment history

Inventors

• Nicholas W. Anderson (employer at time of filing not determinable from the provided patent text).

Original assignee

The original assignee listed on the issued patent US9706500B2 is Intellectual Ventures II LLC. The patent document itself does not provide information on whether Intellectual Ventures II LLC shipped a product embodying the claims or its primary line of business. Intellectual Ventures is widely known as a patent assertion entity (PAE) or Non-Practicing Entity (NPE), primarily engaged in patent acquisition and licensing rather than product development.

Assignment timeline

The USPTO Patent Assignment Search was consulted.

• 2016-08-05 (executed) / recorded 2016-08-10 — Reel 038591/0993

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: INTELLECTUAL VENTURES HOLDING 81 LLC
  • Assignee: INTELLECTUAL VENTURES II LLC
  • Correspondent: GREGORY J. GORDER, INTELLECTUAL VENTURES, P.O. BOX 1612, BELLEVUE, WA 98009-1612. This correspondent, Gregory J. Gorder, is a co-founder of Intellectual Ventures.
  • Context: Internal reorganization within the Intellectual Ventures patent portfolio.

• 2018-12-04 (executed) / recorded 2018-12-04 — Reel 046484/0122

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: INTELLECTUAL VENTURES II LLC
  • Assignee: WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS LLC
  • Correspondent: MICHAEL L. BARNARD, KILPATRICK TOWNSEND & STOCKTON LLP, 1100 PEACHTREE STREET SUITE 2800, ATLANTA, GA 30309.
  • Context: Transfer of patent. Wireless Technology Solutions LLC (WTS) provides IT solutions and communication services, including wireless backup and business internet services, and PCI DSS compliance. They are an operating company in the IT and wireless infrastructure space.

• 2018-12-04 (executed) / recorded 2018-12-04 — Reel 046484/0122

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: IPWIRELESS, INC.
  • Assignee: INTELLECTUAL VENTURES II LLC
  • Correspondent: MICHAEL L. BARNARD, KILPATRICK TOWNSEND & STOCKTON LLP, 1100 PEACHTREE STREET SUITE 2800, ATLANTA, GA 30309. This correspondent, Michael L. Barnard of Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP, handled multiple assignments within this chain on the same day.
  • Context: Transfer of patent. IPWireless, Inc. was a provider of 3G and 4G wireless network equipment and solutions, acquired by General Dynamics in 2012. This appears to be Intellectual Ventures II LLC re-acquiring or confirming ownership from IPWireless, Inc., possibly related to the prior transfer to Wireless Technology Solutions LLC.

• 2018-12-04 (executed) / recorded 2018-12-04 — Reel 046484/0122

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: NORTHROP GRUMMAN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, INC.
  • Assignee: INTELLECTUAL VENTURES II LLC
  • Correspondent: MICHAEL L. BARNARD, KILPATRICK TOWNSEND & STOCKTON LLP, 1100 PEACHTREE STREET SUITE 2800, ATLANTA, GA 30309. This correspondent, Michael L. Barnard of Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP, handled multiple assignments within this chain on the same day.
  • Context: Transfer of patent. Northrop Grumman Information Technology, Inc. (now often part of Northrop Grumman's larger defense and aerospace operations) provided advanced IT solutions. This also appears to be Intellectual Ventures II LLC re-acquiring or confirming ownership.

• 2018-12-04 (executed) / recorded 2018-12-04 — Reel 046484/0122

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS LLC
  • Assignee: IPWIRELESS, INC.
  • Correspondent: MICHAEL L. BARNARD, KILPATRICK TOWNSEND & STOCKTON LLP, 1100 PEACHTREE STREET SUITE 2800, ATLANTA, GA 30309. This correspondent, Michael L. Barnard of Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP, handled multiple assignments within this chain on the same day.
  • Context: Transfer of patent. Wireless Technology Solutions LLC transferred the patent to IPWireless, Inc.

• 2018-12-04 (executed) / recorded 2018-12-04 — Reel 046484/0122

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: IPWIRELESS, INC.
  • Assignee: NORTHROP GRUMMAN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, INC.
  • Correspondent: MICHAEL L. BARNARD, KILPATRICK TOWNSEND & STOCKTON LLP, 1100 PEACHTREE STREET SUITE 2800, ATLANTA, GA 30309. This correspondent, Michael L. Barnard of Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP, handled multiple assignments within this chain on the same day.
  • Context: Transfer of patent. IPWireless, Inc. transferred the patent to Northrop Grumman Information Technology, Inc.

• 2018-12-04 (executed) / recorded 2018-12-04 — Reel 046484/0122

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: INTELLECTUAL VENTURES II LLC
  • Assignee: INTELLECTUAL VENTURES HOLDING 81 LLC
  • Correspondent: MICHAEL L. BARNARD, KILPATRICK TOWNSEND & STOCKTON LLP, 1100 PEACHTREE STREET SUITE 2800, ATLANTA, GA 30309. This correspondent, Michael L. Barnard of Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP, handled multiple assignments within this chain on the same day.
  • Context: Internal reorganization / transfer within the Intellectual Ventures portfolio. Intellectual Ventures Holding 81 LLC is another Intellectual Ventures entity.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 9706500
    2016-08-05 : Assigned to Intellectual Ventures II
    2018-12-04 : Assigned to Wireless Technology Solutions
               : Assigned to Intellectual Ventures II (from IPWireless)
               : Assigned to Intellectual Ventures II (from Northrop Grumman)
               : Assigned to IPWireless (from WTS)
               : Assigned to Northrop Grumman (from IPWireless)
               : Assigned to Intellectual Ventures Holding 81

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — Present. The initial assignment from Intellectual Ventures Holding 81 LLC to Intellectual Ventures II LLC (Reel 038591/0993) is a transfer between known Intellectual Ventures entities, which are patent assertion entities rather than product-shipping companies. The final assignment to Intellectual Ventures Holding 81 LLC (Reel 046484/0122) again places the patent with a known NPE affiliate.

2. Known asserter in the chain — Present. Intellectual Ventures II LLC and Intellectual Ventures Holding 81 LLC are both widely recognized as patent assertion entities (PAEs) or Non-Practicing Entities (NPEs). The patent originates with and ultimately returns to an Intellectual Ventures entity.

3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Present.

   • Gregory J. Gorder (Intellectual Ventures, P.O. BOX 1612, BELLEVUE, WA 98009-1612) appears on Reel 038591/0993. Gregory J. Gorder is a co-founder of Intellectual Ventures, which strongly indicates an internal Intellectual Ventures transaction.
   • Michael L. Barnard (Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP, 1100 PEACHTREE STREET SUITE 2800, ATLANTA, GA 30309) appears on Reel 046484/0122 for multiple simultaneous assignments. This recurrence on a single day for numerous transactions related to the same patent family is a strong signal of a sophisticated transfer strategy.

4. Cascading transfers — Present. On 2018-12-04, there were multiple, rapid assignments involving Intellectual Ventures II LLC, Wireless Technology Solutions LLC, IPWireless, Inc., and Northrop Grumman Information Technology, Inc., culminating in the patent returning to Intellectual Ventures Holding 81 LLC (Reel 046484/0122). This series of transfers all on the same day suggests a complex, pre-arranged transaction.

5. Pre-litigation transfer — Unclear. While there are active litigation cases, the assignment records do not provide filing dates for those cases, making it impossible to ascertain if the 2018-12-04 transfers occurred within 6 months of an initial assertion. The district court cases mentioned in the summary were filed in 2024 (e.g., 6:24-cv-00188, 1:24-cv-00390), well after the last recorded assignment.

6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. No evidence in the assignment records or provided context indicates a bankruptcy sale.

7. Privateering — Unclear. While some operating companies (Wireless Technology Solutions LLC, IPWireless, Inc., Northrop Grumman Information Technology, Inc.) are involved in the chain, the nature of these transfers back to Intellectual Ventures II LLC, and then to Intellectual Ventures Holding 81 LLC, makes it unclear if they represent a privateering arrangement or merely a re-acquisition by Intellectual Ventures.

8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The chain ends with Intellectual Ventures Holding 81 LLC, which is a known NPE.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence. The patent originates from and is currently held by an Intellectual Ventures entity (Intellectual Ventures Holding 81 LLC as of 2018-12-04, Reel 046484/0122), a well-documented patent assertion entity. There are clear signals of internal portfolio management and cascading transfers among various entities, managed by a repeat correspondent (Michael L. Barnard on Reel 046484/0122), indicative of NPE operations.

To verify, search the USPTO Assignment Center for US9706500: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/