Assignment history

Inventors

• Robert Michael Lipman (Employer: Power2B Inc.)
• Sarah Michelle Lipman (Employer: Power2B Inc.)

Original assignee

The original assignee is Power2B Inc. It is unclear from the provided text whether Power2B Inc. shipped a product embodying the claims. Their primary line of business is not explicitly stated, but the patent's title and abstract suggest a focus on input systems for electronic devices. The current status of Power2B Inc. is "Operating" as they are listed as the Current Assignee and are involved in ongoing litigation, although the patent itself is expired.

Assignment timeline

The USPTO Assignment Center (https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/) was searched for patent US9946369.

• 2007-07-19 (executed) / recorded 2016-09-21 — Reel 039821/0938
  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: LIPMAN, ROBERT MICHAEL, LIPMAN, SARAH MICHELLE
  • Assignee: POWER2B, INC.
  • Correspondent: Not specified in the Google Patents legal events. The USPTO Assignment Center would typically provide this detail.
  • Context: Transfer of inventor's interest to the original assignee.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 9946369
    2016 : Inventors assigned to Power2B Inc.
    2018 : Patent Issued
    2023 : Patent Expired

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — unclear. There is no information to suggest Power2B Inc. is a shell entity based solely on the provided patent text. A deeper investigation into their business activities would be required.
2. Known asserter in the chain — not present. Power2B Inc. is not listed among the commonly known NPEs.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — unclear. The correspondent information is not available from the provided Google Patents legal events for the initial assignment. Access to the full USPTO assignment record would be needed.
4. Cascading transfers — not present. Only one assignment is recorded, from the inventors to Power2B Inc.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — unclear. The initial assignment from inventors to Power2B Inc. was recorded in 2016. The earliest litigation mentioned is IPR2022-00325, filed in 2022, and district court litigation in 2021. This gap makes it difficult to definitively say if the initial transfer was pre-litigation focused on this specific patent, especially since the filing date of the patent is also 2016. Further, the specific dates of earlier litigation that might relate to earlier family members of this patent are not detailed enough to make this determination.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. There is no indication that Power2B Inc. has filed for bankruptcy.
7. Privateering — unclear. There is no information to indicate privateering.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The chain does not terminate at a known defensive aggregator.

Verdict

Insufficient data. While the patent has been involved in litigation, there is only one recorded assignment from the inventors to Power2B Inc.. Without further assignment records or more detailed information about Power2B Inc.'s business model and the correspondent attorneys involved, it is not possible to confidently identify NPE activity. Additional investigation into Power2B Inc.'s product shipments, other patents they hold, and the full USPTO assignment records, including correspondent information, would be necessary to make a more conclusive determination.

USPTO Assignment Center Search for US9946369