Assignment history

Inventors

The named inventors for US Patent 9975750 are Brad Thomas, Louis Hartke, Greg Langenfeld, and Matt Hutchinson. At the time of filing, their employer was Vermeer Manufacturing Co, the original assignee. There are no unusual patterns observed, as the assignment of inventor interests to the employer is a standard practice for patent applications.

Original assignee

The original assignee named on the issued patent is Vermeer Manufacturing Co.

Vermeer Manufacturing Co. is a global manufacturer of industrial and agricultural equipment, including horizontal directional drills, trenchers, brush chippers, stump grinders, hay balers, and compact utility loaders, which are types of compact tool carriers. They actively design, manufacture, and sell products embodying the claims of this patent.

Current Status: Vermeer Manufacturing Co. is an operating company.

Assignment timeline

Only one assignment is recorded for US9975750, which is the initial transfer of ownership from the inventors to the original assignee. No subsequent assignments from Vermeer Manufacturing Co. are recorded.

• 2015-05-04 to 2015-05-18 (executed) / recorded 2016-03-07 — Reel 037911/0749
  • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT
  • Assignor: LANGENFELD, GREG; THOMAS, BRAD; HARTKE, LOUIS; HUTCHINSON, MATT
  • Assignee: VERMEER MANUFACTURING COMPANY
  • Correspondent: STURTZ, STEVEN W.; FOLEY & LARDNER LLP; 3000 K STREET, N.W., SUITE 600; WASHINGTON, DC 20007-5143.
  • Context: This is an initial assignment of inventors' interest to their employer, Vermeer Manufacturing Company, during the patent prosecution phase.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 9975750
    2015 : Inventors assigned to Vermeer Mfg Co
    2016 : Application filed
    2018 : Patent issued to Vermeer Mfg Co
    2025 : IPR filed by Kubota

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — not present. The only assignment is from individual inventors to an operating company (Vermeer Manufacturing Co). No transfer to a known shell entity has been recorded.
2. Known asserter in the chain — not present. Vermeer Manufacturing Co is an operating company, not a known NPE. No known NPEs are listed as assignees.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — unclear. Only one assignment is recorded (Reel 037911/0749) with Steven W. Sturtz of Foley & Lardner LLP as the correspondent. Without additional assignments, recurrence cannot be determined.
4. Cascading transfers — not present. There is only one recorded assignment for this patent, from inventors to the operating company.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — unclear. There is a district court case (4:24-cv-00799) and an IPR (IPR2025-00170) noted, but no assignments from the original assignee have occurred to indicate a pre-litigation transfer. The initial assignment from inventors occurred before these litigation events.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. Vermeer Manufacturing Co is an active, operating company. No bankruptcy proceedings are indicated.
7. Privateering — not present. No evidence of an operating company transferring the patent to an NPE to assert on its behalf.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The patent is still held by Vermeer Manufacturing Co.

Verdict

Insufficient data.
There is only one recorded assignment for US9975750, which is the initial transfer of rights from the inventors to the operating company, Vermeer Manufacturing Co. There are no subsequent assignments from the original assignee, and thus, no evidence of NPE or patent-troll patterns in the ownership chain. The patent remains with the original operating company.

For verification, see the USPTO Assignment Center search for US9975750: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/patent/index.html?search=9975750