Assignment history

Inventors

• Fatih M. Ozluturk

Original assignee

Clear Imaging Research LLC is the original assignee named on the issued patent US9860450B2. It is an intellectual property company that focuses on patent monetization. It is currently operating and has an active litigation record.

Assignment timeline

• 2017-07-25 (executed) / recorded 2017-07-25 — Reel 039403/0338
  • Conveyance: Assignment of Assignor's Interest
  • Assignor: Ozluturk, Fatih M.
  • Assignee: Clear Imaging Research LLC
  • Correspondent: R. Michael J. Walsh, 600 S. Orlando Ave. Suite 211, Maitland, FL, 32751.
  • Context: Inventor assigned rights to the original assignee.
• 2021-04-19 (executed) / recorded 2021-04-19 — Reel 056492/0533
  • Conveyance: Assignment of Assignor's Interest
  • Assignor: Clear Imaging, LLC; Ozluturk & Co, LLC; Ozluturk, Fatih
  • Assignee: Clear Imaging Research, LLC
  • Correspondent: R. Michael J. Walsh, 600 S. Orlando Ave. Suite 211, Maitland, FL, 32751. (This correspondent recurs in this chain.)
  • Context: Internal reorganization / assignment from related entities and inventor to the patent-owning entity.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 9860450
    2017-02-13 : Filed
    2017-07-25 : Inventor assigned to Clear Imaging Research LLC
    2018-01-02 : Issued
    2021-04-19 : Assigned to Clear Imaging Research LLC (reorg)

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — Not present. The patent was initially assigned from the inventor to Clear Imaging Research LLC, which appears to be a patent holding and assertion entity. There isn't a clear transfer from an operating company to a shell.
2. Known asserter in the chain — Not present. Clear Imaging Research LLC is an asserting entity, but it is not explicitly listed among the provided common NPEs (Acacia Research Corp, Marathon Patent Group, Intellectual Ventures, IPNav, Wi-LAN, Mosaid / Conversant, Vringo, Pendrell, Innovatio IP Ventures, MPHJ Technology, Lumen View Technology, Round Rock Research, Document Generation Corp, Erich Spangenberg entities).
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Present. R. Michael J. Walsh of 600 S. Orlando Ave. Suite 211, Maitland, FL, 32751, is listed as the correspondent on both recorded assignments (Reel 039403/0338 and Reel 056492/0533).
4. Cascading transfers — Not present. There are only two recorded assignments, both originating from the inventor or inventor-related entities to the assignee, Clear Imaging Research LLC.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — Unclear. The abstract indicates there is litigation associated with this patent family, but the exact filing dates of the first infringement suits specifically naming US9860450B2 are not available from the provided data to compare against the assignment dates.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. No evidence of the original assignee filing for bankruptcy.
7. Privateering — Not present. No information suggesting an operating company transferred the patent to an NPE to assert on its behalf.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The chain does not terminate at any known defensive aggregators.

Verdict

NPE — moderate confidence. While Clear Imaging Research LLC is itself an asserting entity, it is not explicitly on the provided list of "known asserters." However, the patent was assigned from the inventor to Clear Imaging Research LLC, which appears to be a patent holding and assertion entity with an active litigation record, and the recurrence of the same correspondent across the assignments strongly suggests a consistent legal strategy for managing patent assets, which is a common characteristic of NPEs. This is further supported by the current assignee's primary line of business being patent monetization.