Assignment history

Inventors

• Ki Bum Kwon (Pantech Co., Ltd. at filing)
• Jae Hyun Ahn (Panteed Co., Ltd. at filing)
• Kang Suk HUH (Pantech Co., Ltd. at filing)

There are no unusual patterns, such as inventor departures, noted in the record. The inventors were employees of the original operating company.

Original assignee

The original assignee listed on the patent is Goldpeak Innovations Inc. However, the assignment record shows the patent was developed at Pantech Co., Ltd. and assigned to Goldpeak Innovations Inc. after Pantech's bankruptcy proceedings.

Pantech was a South Korean smartphone manufacturer, once the country's third-largest behind Samsung and LG. It was known for producing mobile devices, including the Vega series of smartphones, and was the first company to integrate a fingerprint sensor into a smartphone. Facing financial difficulties, Pantech filed for court receivership (equivalent to Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S.) in August 2014. The company was acquired by a consortium in 2015 and attempted a market return but ultimately ceased smartphone production around May 2017 to focus on IoT and patent monetization. The company's patent portfolio was sold off during this period.

Assignment timeline

• 2017-03-22 (executed) / recorded 2017-03-27 — Reel 041355/0285

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: PANTECH INC. (a Korean corporation)
  • Assignee: GOLDPEAK INNOVATIONS INC. (a Korean corporation)
  • Correspondent: Sung-Ying San, Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP, Washington, DC
  • Context: This transfer was part of a broader sale of over 230 U.S. patents from the struggling Pantech to Goldpeak Innovations, a Seoul-based non-practicing entity (NPE) described as a "patent holding firm." This occurred shortly after Pantech ceased smartphone manufacturing following its bankruptcy.

• 2020-05-07 (executed) / recorded 2020-05-13 — Reel 052657/0066

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: GOLDPEAK INNOVATIONS INC.
  • Assignee: PANTECH CORPORATION
  • Correspondent: Suk-Jae Yim, Pantech Corporation, Seoul, Republic of Korea
  • Context: Transfer back to Pantech Corporation, the entity that emerged post-bankruptcy and has since engaged in active assertion of its patent portfolio.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 9769776
    2013 : Priority application filed by Pantech
    2016 : US application filed
    2017 : Issued with assignee Goldpeak Innovations
         : Pantech officially assigns to Goldpeak
    2020 : Goldpeak assigns back to Pantech Corp
    2021 : First infringement suit filed by Pantech
    2024 : Second infringement suit filed by Pantech

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — present.
   The initial transfer from Pantech Inc., an operating company, to Goldpeak Innovations Inc. fits this pattern. Goldpeak is described in Korean news media as a "patent holding firm" and a "non-practicing entity," formed with former executives from Intellectual Discovery, a Korean sovereign patent fund. This transfer (Reel 041355/0285) moved the patent from a manufacturer to an entity designed for monetization.

2. Known asserter in the chain — present.
   The current assignee, Pantech Corporation, is a known patent asserter. Following its exit from manufacturing, the company has filed multiple infringement lawsuits. This specific patent, US 9,769,776, was asserted against ASUSTeK Computer Inc. in 2021 (Case 5:21-cv-00105) and is part of a broader campaign against OnePlus (Case 5:24-cv-00038). RPX has also covered Pantech's assertion activities.

3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — not present.
   The two assignments on record list different correspondents. The first was handled by a large law firm (Finnegan Henderson), and the second was handled in-house by Pantech Corporation's counsel.

4. Cascading transfers — not present.
   The transfers were separated by approximately three years, not a rapid-fire cascade.

5. Pre-litigation transfer — present.
   The assignment from Goldpeak back to Pantech Corporation was executed on May 7, 2020 (Reel 052657/0066). The first infringement suit asserting this patent was filed by Pantech Wireless, LLC and Pantech Co. on August 20, 2021 (5:21-cv-00105). While slightly over the 6-month threshold, the 15-month gap between the transfer and lawsuit is consistent with preparing a portfolio for an assertion campaign. The litigation entity, Pantech Wireless, LLC, acts as the assertion arm for Pantech Corporation.

6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — present.
   The entire chain of title originates from the financial collapse of Pantech. The company filed for court receivership in 2014, leading to its acquisition in 2015 and the eventual decision to cease phone production and monetize its patent portfolio. The 2017 transfer to Goldpeak was a direct result of this strategy to sell assets.

7. Privateering — not present.
   This is not privateering, as Pantech itself is the plaintiff in the subsequent litigation, not a third-party NPE acting on its behalf.

8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present.
   The chain shows no involvement from any defensive aggregators.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence

The patent's history demonstrates multiple strong signals of non-practicing entity behavior. The chain of title originates from a bankruptcy fire-sale of Pantech's operating assets (Reel 041355/0285), a classic NPE portfolio-acquisition pattern. The patent was first transferred to Goldpeak Innovations, a described "patent holding firm" with ties to a sovereign patent fund, before being transferred back to the remnant Pantech Corporation (Reel 052657/0066), which now operates as a patent-assertion entity rather than a manufacturer. The current assignee, Pantech, has asserted this patent in multiple infringement lawsuits, confirming its post-manufacturing monetization strategy.

A full record of these assignments can be retrieved from the USPTO Patent Assignment Search by searching for patent number 9769776.