Patent 9843786

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. 2024-04-01 · recorded 2024-07-04 · reel 067912/0351 · Assignment

    KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V.GENERAL VIDEO, LLC

    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

  • Nicoll Burleigh Shepherd. Employer not explicitly stated in the patent document.

Original assignee

The original assignee named on the issued patent US9843786B2 is Koninklijke Philips NV. Koninklijke Philips NV is a diversified technology company, primarily known for its products in healthcare, consumer lifestyle, and lighting. They are an operating company that has historically shipped products embodying various technologies. As of the current date (2026-05-15), Koninklijke Philips NV is an operating company.

Assignment timeline

  • 2024-04-01 (executed) / recorded 2024-07-04 — Reel 067912/0351
    • Conveyance: Assignment
    • Assignor: KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V.
    • Assignee: GENERAL VIDEO, LLC
    • Correspondent: Not specified in the provided patent text.
    • Context: Transfer-to-asserter

If the USPTO Assignment Center has additional records, they would be listed here. Based on the provided patent text, only one assignment post-grant is directly listed.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 9843786
    2007 : Priority Date
    2016 : Application filed by Koninklijke Philips NV
    2017 : Granted to Koninklijke Philips NV
    2024 : Assigned to General Video LLC

NPE / troll-pattern signals

  1. Shell-entity transfer — present. The patent was transferred from Koninklijke Philips N.V., a large operating company, to General Video, LLC. The "LLC" suffix and the lack of readily apparent product offerings from "General Video, LLC" suggest a licensing-focused entity.

  2. Known asserter in the chain — present. General Video LLC has been identified in litigation data as a patent asserter.

  3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — unclear. The correspondent for the 2024-07-04 assignment is not specified in the provided patent text.

  4. Cascading transfers — not present. Only one assignment is listed in the provided patent text after the patent grant.

  5. Pre-litigation transfer — present. The assignment to General Video, LLC was executed on 2024-04-01 and recorded on 2024-07-04. The Google Patents legal events section shows multiple litigation cases filed in late 2024 and early 2025 (e.g., 5:24-cv-00126, 1:24-cv-01530), which is within 6 months of the assignment.

  6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. Koninklijke Philips N.V. is an active operating company, and there is no indication of bankruptcy.

  7. Privateering — unclear. While the transfer is from an operating company to a likely NPE, the specific details of whether Koninklijke Philips N.V. retains any interest or directs the assertion are not available in the provided patent text.

  8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The chain ends with General Video, LLC, which is an asserter.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence. The transfer from Koninklijke Philips N.V. to General Video, LLC, combined with the timing of this assignment closely preceding multiple litigation filings against various defendants, are strong indicators of an NPE assertion strategy. General Video, LLC's name and lack of apparent product sales further support its likely role as a licensing or assertion entity.

Verification: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/

Generated 5/15/2026, 6:47:23 AM