Patent RE44742

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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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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Inventors

  • Christopher T. Villar, II: Employer at the time of filing not determinable from available information.

Original assignee

The original patent (7,974,266) was assigned to IOT Innovations, LLC. The reissue patent RE44742 also lists IOT Innovations, LLC as the assignee.

IOT Innovations, LLC is a patent assertion entity (NPE) focused on monetizing intellectual property in the Internet of Things and smart home connectivity space. They do not appear to ship products embodying the claims. Their primary line of business is patent assertion and licensing. As of the current date, IOT Innovations, LLC is actively operating and involved in litigation.

Assignment timeline

The USPTO Assignment Center indicates no recorded assignments for US Patent RE44742 subsequent to its issuance. This means the original assignee, IOT Innovations, LLC, is still the recorded owner.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US RE44742
    2008 : Original patent filed
    2013 : Reissue application filed
    2014 : Reissue patent issued to IOT Innovations LLC
    2023 : IOT Innovations LLC v. Somfy Systems filed
    2024 : IOT Innovations LLC v. Generac (ecobee) filed
    2024 : IOT Innovations LLC v. Resideo (Snap One) filed
    2026 : IOT Innovations LLC v. Schneider USA Inc filed

NPE / troll-pattern signals

  1. Shell-entity transfer — Present. The original and current assignee, IOT Innovations, LLC, is identified as a patent assertion entity (NPE) and an Empire IP entity, with a focus on monetizing intellectual property rather than shipping products.

  2. Known asserter in the chain — Present. IOT Innovations, LLC is identified as a patent assertion entity (NPE) and an Empire IP entity. Unified Patents explicitly lists IOT Innovations, LLC as an NPE.

  3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Unclear. There are no recorded assignments in the USPTO Assignment Center for RE44742, so no chain of correspondents can be analyzed.

  4. Cascading transfers — Not present. There are no recorded assignments for RE44742.

  5. Pre-litigation transfer — Not present. There are no recorded assignments for RE44742 that can be linked to a pre-litigation transfer. The initial assertion of the original patent (US7974266B2) by IOT Innovations LLC against Somfy Systems was filed on December 1, 2023. The reissue patent RE44742 was issued to IOT Innovations LLC on February 4, 2014, long before the litigation.

  6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. No evidence suggests a bankruptcy sale.

  7. Privateering — Unclear. While IOT Innovations, LLC is an NPE, there is no public information definitively stating they are asserting patents on behalf of a specific operating company against competitors in a privateering arrangement.

  8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The patent is currently held by an NPE and is actively being asserted.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence

IOT Innovations, LLC, the sole recorded assignee, is explicitly identified as a patent assertion entity (NPE) and an Empire IP entity. They are actively engaged in multiple litigations asserting this and other patents, confirming their business model of intellectual property monetization rather than product sales. The lack of product shipment and the nature of their business strongly indicate an NPE operation.

To verify, refer to the USPTO Assignment Center by searching for RE44742 at https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/.

Generated 6/1/2026, 12:46:52 PM