Patent 9766801

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 (1)

Asserters network →

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

  1. 2023-04-03 · reel 058142/0150 · ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST

    FAURECIA CLARION ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.AUTONAVIGARE LLC

    Correspondent: KENNETH W. JENKINS · MASCHOFF BRENNAN

    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

  • Ryohei Kato (Clarion Co., Ltd.)
  • Noriyuki Abe (Clarion Co., Ltd.)
  • Norikazu Nara (Clarion Co., Ltd.)
  • Hidetaka Suzuki (Clarion Co., Ltd.)
  • Kimio Okamoto (Clarion Co.,., Ltd.)

No unusual patterns in inventor departure are determinable from the provided information.

Original assignee

The original assignee was Clarion Co., Ltd. They were a manufacturer of car audio, navigation, and other in-car information systems, which shipped products embodying the claims. Clarion Co., Ltd. was acquired by Faurecia in 2019 and is now known as Faurecia Clarion Electronics Co., Ltd.

Assignment timeline

  • 2023-04-03 (executed) / recorded 2023-04-03 — Reel 058142/0150
    • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
    • Assignor: FAURECIA CLARION ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    • Assignee: AUTONAVIGARE LLC
    • Correspondent: KENNETH W. JENKINS, MASCHOFF BRENNAN, PLLC, 1389 CENTER DR, SUITE 300, PARK CITY, UT 84098
    • Context: transfer-to-asserter

If the Assignment Center has no records for this patent, say so plainly and stop after this section. Many patents have no recorded post-issuance assignments — that is itself a finding (it usually means the original assignee still owns the patent).

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 9766801
    2016 : Filed by Clarion Co Ltd
    2017 : Issued
    2023 : Assigned to Autonavigare LLC
    2023 : First infringement suit filed

NPE / troll-pattern signals

  1. Shell-entity transfer — Present. The transfer from Faurecia Clarion Electronics Co., Ltd. (an operating company) to Autonavigare LLC. Autonavigare LLC's business model appears to be patent assertion, as evidenced by the multiple infringement lawsuits filed, and their address (1389 CENTER DR, SUITE 300, PARK CITY, UT 84098) is a common registered agent service address.
  2. Known asserter in the chain — Present. Autonavigare LLC is a known patent asserter, as indicated by the litigation history provided, specifically "Autonavigare LLC v. General Motors, LLC" and other similar cases.
  3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Unclear. Kenneth W. Jenkins of Maschoff Brennan, PLLC is the correspondent for the 2023 assignment. Without further data on other patents tracked on this site or NPE assertion lists specifically citing this correspondent, it's unclear if this is a repeat pattern.
  4. Cascading transfers — Not present. There is only one recorded assignment in the chain from the original assignee to the current assignee.
  5. Pre-litigation transfer — Present. The assignment to Autonavigare LLC was executed and recorded on April 3, 2023. The first infringement suits (e.g., Autonavigare LLC v. General Motors, LLC) were filed on August 4, 2023. This is within 6 months of the assignment date.
  6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. There is no indication that Faurecia Clarion Electronics Co., Ltd. (or Clarion Co., Ltd. before its acquisition by Faurecia) filed for bankruptcy.
  7. Privateering — Unclear. While the patent was transferred from an operating company (Faurecia Clarion Electronics) to an NPE (Autonavigare LLC), there is no explicit evidence from SEC filings or public reports provided that confirms Autonavigare LLC is asserting the patent on behalf of Faurecia Clarion Electronics Co., Ltd. against their competitors.
  8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The patent is currently held by Autonavigare LLC, a patent asserter, not a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence

The patent was transferred from an operating company (Faurecia Clarion Electronics Co., Ltd.) to Autonavigare LLC, a shell entity known for patent assertion as evidenced by its multiple infringement lawsuits. Furthermore, this transfer occurred within six months of the first litigation filings, strongly indicating a pre-litigation transfer to enable assertion.

Verification: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/ (Search for patent number 9766801)

Generated 5/29/2026, 9:07:29 PM