Invalidity dossier
US 10900657
Edge-lit light fixture having capabilities for a secondary service
Current assignee: Technical Consumer Products Inc
Added 9/23/2026, 5:37:01 PM
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 10,900,657 B2
Title: Edge-lit light fixture having capabilities for a secondary service
Assignee (per source): Technical Consumer Products, Inc. (original and current assignee listed).
Key dates (as listed):
- Priority date: 2017-08-01 (noted as an assumption)
- Application no. US16/992,585; filed 2020-08-13
- Publication of US20200370745A1: 2020-11-26
- Granted/publication of US10900657B2: 2021-01-26
- Anticipated expiration listed as 2038-08-01; legal status "Active" (status is an assumption, not a legal conclusion)
Purpose (plain language): The disclosure relates generally to a light fixture, and more particularly to a light fixture that contains, within a single housing, both a light-producing element and at least one other element providing a "secondary service." LED-based lighting is described as offering energy and reliability advantages over incandescent or fluorescent systems and as usable within home automation systems. The excerpt states that such fixtures may include a speaker that produces sound or a microphone that detects a user's voice or other sounds.
Structure disclosed in the excerpt: The light fixture 10 includes a bezel 20, a waveguide 22, a secondary element 26, and a secondary element holder 28 (text truncated at that point). Figures listed include FIG. 1 (perspective, cross-sectioned view), FIG. 2 (exploded view), FIG. 3 (enlarged view of a portion), and FIG. 4 (another perspective view). Classifications include F21V33/00 and F21V33/0056 (structural combinations with other articles; audio equipment), F21K9/61 (light guides), F21S8/026 (recessed ceiling fixtures), G02B6/00x (planar light guides), H04R1/028 (transducer casings combined with other functions), and H05B45/00.
What the excerpt does not establish: The excerpt is partial and truncated mid-sentence ("…a secondary element holder 28, a"). It provides no claim text, no complete written description, no prior-art references, and no detailed explanation of how the secondary element is mounted, wired, or operated. It does not establish the scope of any claim, the number of claims, examination history, validity, or enforceability. The listed assignees, dates, and legal status are expressly characterized in the source as non-legal conclusions or assumptions.
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:43:27 PM
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Litigation summary
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Proceedings on file (0)
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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
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Obviousness
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Extensions
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Derivative works
Defensive disclosure: derivative variations of each claim designed to render future incremental improvements obvious or non-novel.