Assignment history

Crucial Correction Regarding Prior Sections:

There is a significant contradiction between the provided "Previously generated sections" (Patent Summary and Litigation Summary) and the "Full patent text" provided for EP2449782B1. The "Previously generated sections" incorrectly describe EP2449782B1 as a patent titled "METHOD AND DEVICE FOR PRODUCING A PLASTIC CONTAINER" assigned to "KHS CORPOPLAST GMBH."

The authoritative "Full patent text" for EP2449782B1 clearly states the patent title is "Methods and apparatus for signaling intra prediction for large blocks for video encoders and decoders" and the original assignee is "Thomson Licensing SAS."

All subsequent analysis will be based on the correct information for EP2449782B1 as provided in the authoritative "Full patent text."

Inventors

• Yunfei Zheng
• Qian Xu
• Xiaoan Lu
• Peng Yin
• Joel Sole
• Adeel Abbas

The employer of the inventors at the time of filing is not explicitly stated in the provided patent text, beyond the original assignee, Thomson Licensing SAS. It is presumed they were employed by Thomson Licensing SAS or an affiliated entity. No unusual patterns like all inventors departing the original assignee within 12 months of filing can be determined from the available information.

Original assignee

The entity named on the issued patent is Thomson Licensing SAS.

Thomson Licensing SAS (now part of InterDigital) is a technology licensing company specializing in intellectual property related to digital video, audio, and communications. They are a significant player in the development and licensing of video compression standards, such as MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) and HEVC (H.265), which is the subject matter of this patent. They do not typically ship end-user products themselves but license their patented technologies to companies that do. Their primary line of business is patent monetization through licensing. As of 2026, Thomson Licensing SAS has been acquired by and operates under InterDigital, Inc., an active company.

Assignment timeline

A search for application number 12/751,202 (corresponding to US Patent Application Publication US20120106629A1) on the USPTO Assignment Center yields no recorded assignments. This indicates that the ownership of the U.S. patent family member remains with the original applicant/assignee, or any assignments were not recorded with the USPTO for this specific publication.

Timeline diagram

Not applicable, as no assignments were found in the USPTO Assignment Center for the U.S. family member.

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — Not present. There are no recorded transfers for the US application number, so no transfer to a shell entity is observed in the assignment chain. The original assignee, Thomson Licensing SAS, while a licensing entity, is a long-standing corporate entity rather than a newly formed shell.
2. Known asserter in the chain — Present. The original assignee, Thomson Licensing SAS, is now part of InterDigital, Inc. InterDigital is widely recognized as a high-frequency patent asserter, particularly in the telecommunications and video coding sectors. This is supported by the previous "Litigation summary" noting their extensive patent litigation globally concerning video compression standards.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Not present. No assignments were found, so there is no chain to observe repeat correspondents.
4. Cascading transfers — Not present. No assignments were found.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — Unclear. While the family is involved in litigation in other jurisdictions, and InterDigital is a known litigant, there is no identified U.S. litigation involving this specific patent or its direct U.S. counterparts, nor any recorded transfers that precede litigation.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. Thomson Licensing SAS (InterDigital) is an active company and there is no indication of bankruptcy proceedings related to this patent.
7. Privateering — Unclear. While InterDigital engages in extensive licensing, which can sometimes involve privateering arrangements, there is no specific evidence within the patent record or general information provided to confirm this for this specific patent.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The ownership has remained with the original assignee/its successor, not transferred to a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — moderate confidence

The verdict is based on the fact that the original assignee, Thomson Licensing SAS (now InterDigital, Inc.), is a known high-frequency patent asserter and a significant player in patent licensing for video compression standards. While no U.S. assignments are recorded for the corresponding U.S. patent publication (US20120106629A1), the nature of InterDigital's business model for this type of IP strongly suggests an NPE strategy. The authoritative patent document itself also states the family has litigation (Family ID=42710491).

For verification, you can search the USPTO Patent Assignment Search by application number 12/751,202 at https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/.