Assignment history

Inventors

• Byung Wan Yoon: Employed by KT Corp at the time of filing.
• Su Hwan Rim: Employed by KT Corp at the time of filing.

There are no unusual patterns indicating inventors departing the original assignee around the filing date based on the provided information.

Original assignee

The original assignee named on the issued patent is KT Corp.

KT Corp is a prominent South Korean telecommunications company, with its primary line of business being the provision of integrated wired and wireless telecommunication services. Based on general knowledge, KT Corp is an operating company that ships various telecommunication products and services.

KT Corp is currently an operating company.

Assignment timeline

• 2014-12-23 (executed) / recorded 2014-12-29 — Reel 034712/0910

  • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
  • Assignor: RIM, SU HWAN; YOON, BYUNG WAN
  • Assignee: KT CORPORATION
  • Correspondent: SUZANNE K. DAHMEN; DAHMEN AND DRUGAN, PLC; 11425 VALLEY CREST DR; LAKELAND, FL 33813. This correspondent does not recur in this chain.
  • Context: Transfer from inventors to the corporate entity.

• 2020-09-21 (executed) / recorded 2020-10-23 — Reel 054148/0426

  • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
  • Assignor: KT CORPORATION
  • Assignee: GOLDEN EYE TECHNOLOGIES LLC
  • Correspondent: JOHN J. O'ROURKE; O'ROURKE LAW GROUP; 2100 ROSS AVENUE, SUITE 950; DALLAS, TX 75201. This correspondent does not recur in this chain.
  • Context: Transfer from an operating company to a suspected assertion entity.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 9717037
    2013 : Filed by KT Corp
    2014 : Inventors assign to KT Corp
    2017 : Issued to KT Corp
    2020 : KT Corp assigns to Golden Eye Technologies LLC
    2025 : First infringement suit filed
    2026 : IPR case filed

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — Present. The patent was transferred from KT Corp, a known operating telecommunications company, to Golden Eye Technologies LLC (recorded 2020-10-23, Reel 054148/0426). The assignee name "Technologies LLC" is typical of a shell entity, and the patent is currently involved in litigation in the Eastern District of Texas and a PTAB IPR, as indicated in the Google Patents legal events.
2. Known asserter in the chain — Present. Golden Eye Technologies LLC is identified as the current assignee and is actively involved in litigation concerning this patent family, including a US district court case (2:25-cv-00898) and a pending PTAB IPR (IPR2026-00187). The Google Patents record explicitly links to "Unified Patents Litigation Data" and "Unified Patents PTAB Data" for these cases, which are sources for tracking high-frequency plaintiffs, thus strongly indicating that Golden Eye Technologies LLC operates as a patent asserter.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Not present. The correspondent for the 2014 assignment (Reel 034712/0910) was SUZANNE K. DAHMEN of DAHMEN AND DRUGAN, PLC. The correspondent for the 2020 assignment (Reel 054148/0426) was JOHN J. O'ROURKE of O'ROURKE LAW GROUP.
4. Cascading transfers — Not present. There are only two assignments in the chain, occurring approximately six years apart, which does not constitute multiple consecutive transfers within a short timeframe.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — Not present. The last assignment to Golden Eye Technologies LLC was executed on 2020-09-21 and recorded on 2020-10-23 (Reel 054148/0426). The first infringement suit (case 2:25-cv-00898) was filed in 2025, which is over four years after the transfer, well outside the 6-month window for pre-litigation transfer.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. There is no indication that KT Corp filed for bankruptcy or that this patent was sold in bankruptcy proceedings.
7. Privateering — Unclear. While the transfer from an operating company (KT Corp) to a litigious entity (Golden Eye Technologies LLC) could be a privateering arrangement, there is no explicit evidence or documentation provided (e.g., from SEC filings or investigative reports) to confirm this specific type of relationship.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The patent's current owner, Golden Eye Technologies LLC, is actively asserting the patent in litigation, which is the opposite behavior of a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence

The verdict is high confidence NPE due to two strong signals: the transfer from an operating company (KT Corp) to a shell-like entity (Golden Eye Technologies LLC, recorded 2020-10-23, Reel 054148/0426), and Golden Eye Technologies LLC's active involvement in multiple litigation proceedings (US case 2:25-cv-00898, PTAB IPR2026-00187) as the asserting entity.

For verification, refer to the USPTO Assignment Center search for US9717037.