Assignment history

Inventors

The inventors named on US Patent RE47720, which is a reissue of US Patent 9,516,400, are:

• Andrew C. Clark (Greenville, SC, US)
• David W. Topham (Fountain Inn, SC, US)
• David A. Topham (Fountain Inn, SC, US)

Their employer at the time of filing the original patent application was SensoRTech Corporation, the original assignee. No unusual patterns, such as all inventors departing within 12 months, are readily determinable from the provided information.

Original assignee

The original assignee named on the issued US Patent 9,516,400 (the parent of RE47720) was SensoRTech Corporation.

Based on a general search, SensoRTech Corporation appears to have been involved in sensor technology. It is not clear whether they shipped a product embodying the claims of this specific patent, but their name suggests an operating company in the technology sector. As of the transfer of the patent, their current status as an operating entity is unclear; the patent was subsequently assigned to a patent assertion entity.

Assignment timeline

Here is the chronological list of every recorded assignment for US Patent RE47720 (and its parent US 9,516,400), based on USPTO Assignment Search records:

• 2010-05-20 (executed) / recorded 2010-05-27 — Reel 024450/0148

  • Conveyance: Assignment of Assignor's Interest
  • Assignor: Clark, Andrew C.; Topham, David W.
  • Assignee: SENSORTECH CORPORATION
  • Correspondent: BALLARD SPAHR LLP 999 PEACHTREE STREET SUITE 1000 ATLANTA, GA 30309
  • Context: Standard assignment from the inventors to the original operating company, covering the application that led to US 9,516,400.

• 2019-09-03 (executed) / recorded 2019-10-02 — Reel 049372/0817

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: SensoRTech Corporation
  • Assignee: USTA Technology LLC
  • Correspondent: JOSEPH F. O'HARA JR. O'HARA IP LAW FIRM 1250 CONNECTICUT AVENUE, NW, STE 200 WASHINGTON, DC 20036. This correspondent, Joseph F. O'Hara Jr., or firms associated with him, has frequently appeared as correspondent for patent assertion entities in other tracked patent assignments.
  • Context: Transfer of patent rights from the original operating company to a patent assertion entity.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US RE47720
    2010 : Inventors assign to SensoRTech Corp
    2016 : US 9,516,400 issued
    2019 : SensoRTech assigns to USTA Technology LLC
    2020 : RE47720 issued
    2024 : Reexamination filed by Unified Patents

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — present. The transfer from SensoRTech Corporation to USTA Technology LLC (Reel 049372/0817, executed 2019-09-03 / recorded 2019-10-02) indicates a move from a likely operating company to an entity (USTA Technology LLC) identified as an NPE and part of Oso IP, LLC. USTA Technology LLC does not appear to ship products embodying the claims.

2. Known asserter in the chain — present. USTA Technology LLC is explicitly identified as an NPE and an entity of Oso IP, LLC. Oso IP, LLC is a known high-frequency plaintiff / patent assertion entity.

3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — present. JOSEPH F. O'HARA JR. of O'HARA IP LAW FIRM is the correspondent for the assignment to USTA Technology LLC (Reel 049372/0817). Joseph F. O'Hara Jr. is a known attorney who frequently represents patent assertion entities in assignment recordations.

4. Cascading transfers — not present. There are only two main assignments recorded, and they are not multiple consecutive transfers through chained LLCs within a short period.

5. Pre-litigation transfer — present. The assignment to USTA Technology LLC was executed on 2019-09-03 and recorded on 2019-10-02 (Reel 049372/0817). The first known litigation event, the ex parte reexamination proceeding, was filed on October 14, 2024. While this gap is longer than 6 months, the patent was also asserted in district court litigations against multiple companies (Google, AT&T, ASUS, Lenovo, LG, and Samsung). It is highly probable that these district court assertions began after the assignment to USTA Technology LLC in 2019, and likely well before the reexamination in 2024, fitting the pre-litigation transfer pattern where the transfer enables the assertion.

6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. There is no indication that SensoRTech Corporation filed for bankruptcy and sold its patents in proceedings.

7. Privateering — unclear. While the patent was transferred from an operating company to an NPE, there is no public information or SEC filings explicitly stating that SensoRTech Corporation transferred the patent to USTA Technology LLC to assert on its behalf against competitors.

8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The chain ends with USTA Technology LLC, a known NPE, not a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence

This verdict is based on multiple strong signals. USTA Technology LLC, the current owner (Reel 049372/0817, executed 2019-09-03 / recorded 2019-10-02), is explicitly identified as a known NPE and an entity of Oso IP, LLC, which is a high-frequency patent plaintiff. The transfer of the patent occurred from an operating company (SensoRTech Corporation) to this shell entity, and the correspondent on the assignment (Joseph F. O'Hara Jr.) is a known repeat-player attorney for NPEs.

For verification of assignment records, please visit the USPTO Assignment Center search page: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/