Invalidity dossier
US 10621228
Method and apparatus for managing digital files
Current assignee: MemoryWeb LLC
Added 9/23/2026, 11:10:18 AM
Active provider: DeepSeek · deepseek-flash
Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
Patent Overview — US 10,621,228 B2
Title: Method and apparatus for managing digital files
Patent number: US10621228B2
Assignee (current, as listed): MemoryWeb LLC (original assignee: Ncm Ip Holdings LLC)
Inventors: Christopher J. Desmond; Nancy L. Desmond; L. Michael Taylor
Key dates: Priority date 2011-06-09 (claimed from US13/157,214); application US16/578,238 filed 2019-09-20; published as US20200026727A1 on 2020-01-23; granted 2020-04-14; anticipated expiration 2031-06-09. Legal status listed as Active.
Purpose: The invention "relates generally to the management of digital files and, more particularly, to a computer-implemented system and method for managing and using digital files such as digital photographs."
Plain-language scope (from the supplied definitions): The patent describes tagging digital files and searching them by those tags. In one recited method: digital files are stored with embedded content data and metadata including tags; a user types a tag label; a controller modifies a selected tag in a file's metadata to include that label; the user instructs a search for files having that label; the system searches automatically and displays an indication of the label. A second recited method covers displaying a graphical representation of a tag label, receiving a user selection of it (or a search string) as a search filter criterion, automatically searching the files using that label as a filter, and displaying an indication of the label plus a representation of the number of files satisfying the criterion. A third recited system is a web-based digital file storage system with a repository, a tagging system permitting assignment of multiple tags (types such as person's name, location, recipe, date, family relationship, profile, event name, rating, document type), a multi-type search filter, and a user interface presenting files based on tags with a tag image bearing text.
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US10621228/en
What the excerpt does not establish: It is expressly excerpted and omits text; no full claim set, specification detail, claim construction, or claim count is shown. It does not establish validity, enforceability, infringement, or the content of cited prior art.
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:54:02 PM
Cases on file (0)
Specific litigation cases in our database that name US patent 10621228. The free-form analysis below may also discuss cases beyond this list.
No cases on file mention this patent. Upload a CSV or add a case manually in Admin → Manage litigation cases.
Litigation summary
Past and pending lawsuits — plaintiffs, defendants, jurisdictions, outcomes, and notable rulings.
Proceedings on file (0)
All PTAB activity →AIA trial proceedings (IPR / PGR / CBM) filed at the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board against this patent. Sourced from the USPTO Open Data Portal and refreshed every six hours; each proceeding number deep-links to the PTAB E2E docket.
No PTAB proceedings on file. This patent has not been challenged via IPR, PGR, or CBM. The absence is itself a signal — well-asserted patents eventually attract IPRs. The LLM analysis below may surface filings the ODP feed hasn’t indexed yet.
PTAB challenges
AIA trial proceedings at the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board — IPR, PGR, and CBM. Petitioners, judge panels, claim-level invalidation outcomes from Final Written Decisions, and Federal Circuit appeals. The single most important defensive datapoint after litigation history.
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.
Prior art
Earlier patents, publications, and products that may anticipate or render the claims unpatentable.
Obviousness
Combinations of prior art that suggest the claimed invention would have been obvious under 35 U.S.C. § 103.
Extensions
Patent term adjustments, term extensions, continuations, divisionals, family members, and expiration dates.
Derivative works
Defensive disclosure: derivative variations of each claim designed to render future incremental improvements obvious or non-novel.