Patent 9762692

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 (2)

Asserters network →

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

  1. 2010-09-13 · reel 025406/0064 · Assignment

    NEWTON, CHRISTOPHER; FULLAGAR, DAVID; LIPSTONE, LAURENCELEVEL 3 COMMUNICATIONS, LLC

    Correspondent: BRENT D. REIDEL · HOLLAND & HART

    Assignment from inventors to original corporate assignee

  2. 2024-04-26 · recorded 2024-05-02 · reel 063712/0358 · Assignment

    LEVEL 3 COMMUNICATIONS, LLCSANDPIPER CDN, LLC

    Correspondent: STEVEN T. COTTRELL · NIXON & VANDERHYE

    Transfer-to-asserter

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

  • David Fullagar (Level 3 Communications LLC)
  • Christopher Newton (Level 3 Communications LLC)
  • Laurence Lipstone (Level 3 Communications LLC)

No unusual patterns observed regarding inventor departures based on the provided data.

Original assignee

Level 3 Communications LLC.

Level 3 Communications was a telecommunications and internet service provider that offered content delivery network (CDN) services. The patent claims relate to handling long-tail content in a CDN, which aligns with their primary line of business.

Level 3 Communications LLC was acquired by CenturyLink (now Lumen Technologies) in 2017.

Assignment timeline

  • 2010-09-13 (executed) / recorded 2010-09-13 — Reel 025406/0064

    • Conveyance: Assignment
    • Assignor: NEWTON, CHRISTOPHER; FULLAGAR, DAVID; LIPSTONE, LAURENCE
    • Assignee: LEVEL 3 COMMUNICATIONS, LLC
    • Correspondent: BRENT D. REIDEL, ESQ., HOLLAND & HART LLP, 555 17TH STREET, SUITE 3200, DENVER, CO 80202
    • Context: Assignment from inventors to original corporate assignee.

  • 2024-04-26 (executed) / recorded 2024-05-02 — Reel 063712/0358

    • Conveyance: Assignment
    • Assignor: LEVEL 3 COMMUNICATIONS, LLC
    • Assignee: SANDPIPER CDN, LLC
    • Correspondent: STEVEN T. COTTRELL, NIXON & VANDERHYE PC, 901 N. GLEBE ROAD, 11TH FLOOR, ARLINGTON, VA 22203
    • Context: Transfer-to-asserter.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 9762692
    2008 : Priority date
    2010 : Inventors assigned to Level 3 Communications
    2017 : Issued
    2024 : Assigned to Sandpiper CDN LLC

NPE / troll-pattern signals

  1. Shell-entity transfer — present. The transfer from Level 3 Communications, LLC (an operating company) to SANDPIPER CDN, LLC. The name "SANDPIPER CDN, LLC" with "LLC" and "CDN" (Content Delivery Network) in the name suggests a specific focus on monetizing CDN-related patents, often a characteristic of a licensing-only entity.

  2. Known asserter in the chain — unclear. Sandpiper CDN, LLC is identified as a petitioner in an IPR case (IPR2026-00174) and a plaintiff in district court cases in the Texas Eastern District Court, which are common activities for NPEs, but it's not explicitly on the common NPE lists provided.

  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 assignment.

  5. Pre-litigation transfer — present. The assignment to Sandpiper CDN, LLC was executed on 2024-04-26 and recorded on 2024-05-02. Unified Patents records show a US case filed in Texas Eastern District Court on 2024-cv-00886 and another on 2025-cv-00664, suggesting the assignment happened close in time to or before litigation.

  6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. Level 3 Communications was acquired, not in bankruptcy.

  7. Privateering — unclear. While the transfer is from an operating company (Level 3 Communications/Lumen Technologies), there's no direct evidence from the provided text to confirm if Sandpiper CDN, LLC is asserting on behalf of Lumen Technologies against competitors.

  8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The patent was assigned to Sandpiper CDN, LLC, not to a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence

The transfer from an operating company (Level 3 Communications, LLC) to a named LLC (SANDPIPER CDN, LLC) with a suggestive name, coupled with the timing of the assignment preceding litigation in the Texas Eastern District Court (a common venue for patent assertion lawsuits), strongly indicates an NPE pattern. Specifically, the assignment occurred on 2024-04-26 (Reel 063712/0358), and district court cases were filed in the Texas Eastern District Court in 2024 and 2025.

USPTO Assignment Center: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/ (Search patent number 9762692)

Generated 5/27/2026, 6:47:19 PM