Assignment history

The claims of a patent define the legal scope of the patent protection, while the specification provides a detailed written description of the invention.

Inventors

• Andrew C. Clark (Employer: SenorTech Corporation)
• David W. Topham (Employer: SenorTech Corporation)

Original assignee

The original assignee on US patent RE50328 is SenorTech Corporation. Based on the information available, it's unclear whether SenorTech Corporation shipped a product embodying the claims. Their primary line of business, as inferred from the patent, appears to be related to pharmaceutical dosage forms and production methods, specifically for complicating counterfeiting and supporting authentication. The current status of SenorTech Corporation is not determinable from the provided search results.

Assignment timeline

• 2010-05-20 (executed) / recorded 2010-05-27 — Reel 024450/0148
  • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST
  • Assignor: CLARK, ANDREW C. and TOPHAM, DAVID W.
  • Assignee: SENSORTECH CORPORATION
  • Correspondent: BALLARD SPAHR LLP 999 PEACHTREE STREET SUITE 1000 ATLANTA, GA 30309
  • Context: Original assignment from inventors to the initial assignee.

The USPTO Assignment Center search for RE50328 only returned one record, which is the initial assignment from the inventors to SenorTech Corporation. This means there are no recorded post-issuance assignments.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US RE50328
    2007 : Original patent filed
    2010 : Inventors assigned to SenorTech Corp
    2014 : Original patent issued
    2024 : Reissue patent RE50328 issued

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — not present. There are no recorded transfers from an operating company to a licensing-only LLC in the assignment chain.
2. Known asserter in the chain — not present. No known NPEs such as Acacia Research Corp, Marathon Patent Group, or Intellectual Ventures appear in the assignment record.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — not present. Only one assignment is recorded, so there is no recurrence of a correspondent attorney or firm.
4. Cascading transfers — not present. There are no multiple consecutive assignments through chained LLCs.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — unclear. Without knowledge of any litigation involving RE50328, it's not possible to determine if a transfer occurred within 6 months of a lawsuit.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. There is no indication of the original assignee filing for bankruptcy and the patent being sold in proceedings.
7. Privateering — unclear. There is no information from SEC filings or other sources to suggest an operating company transferred the patent to an NPE to assert on their behalf.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The chain does not terminate at a defensive aggregator like RPX, AST, LOT Network, Unified Patents, or Open Invention Network.

Verdict

Insufficient data
There is only one recorded assignment for RE50328, which is the initial assignment from the inventors to SenorTech Corporation (reel 024450/0148, recorded 2010-05-27). This limited information does not provide sufficient signals to confidently classify the patent ownership chain as an NPE pattern or otherwise.

For verification, see the USPTO Patent Assignment Search: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/patent/index.html (search for patent number RE50328).