Invalidity dossier
US 5236215
Added 9/23/2026, 1:04:44 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 5,236,215 A
Title: Trailer hitch coupling guide
Inventor: Thomas S. Wylie
Assignee: Individual (no corporate assignee listed)
Application No.: US 07/914,316
Priority/Filing Date: 1992-07-17
Publication (Grant) Date: 1993-08-17
Legal Status (as listed): Expired – Fee Related; anticipated expiration 2012-07-17
Classification: B60D 1/36; B60D 1/363 (hitch guiding or catching elements)
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US5236215/en
Purpose (from the supplied text): Hitching a trailer to a towing vehicle requires backing the vehicle so its hitch ball aligns beneath the trailer tongue socket. Because the driver cannot see the tongue or ball while backing, alignment is difficult and backing too far can damage the vehicle. Prior guides with elongated arms either interfere with vehicle/tongue articulation (striking the tongue on sharp turns), require manual manipulation and leave an unsightly structure, need un-bolting with tools to remove, or suffer bending and friction wear. The invention addresses these problems with a removable, adjustable guide.
Plain-language scope (per the supplied claims/description): A mounting plate affixes to the flat surface of a step bumper; paired upwardly emergent mounting tubes sit in opposition about the vehicle's longitudinal axis. A yoke embraces the draw bar and carries paired vertical first securing bores in rectangular array with the tubes. Paired horizontal guide bars have parallel portions and rearwardly divergent portions (funnel-shaped), with downward forward mounting posts fitting the tubes and rear mounting posts fitting the securing bores. A vertical guide post mounts above the trailer socket and slides between the bars. The bars are removable, or storable by inserting the rear posts into auxiliary securing bores near the bumper. Optional features include brace means, a tubular sleeve to accept the draw bar, and bolt attachment of the plate.
What the excerpt does not establish:
- The full text of the numbered claims and their exact scope.
- Any corporate ownership, assignment history, or transfers.
- Validity, enforceability, litigation, or prior-art comparisons.
- That the listed "Expired – Fee Related" status is a legal conclusion (the source itself disclaims this).
- Any dimensions, materials beyond mild steel/galvanizing/painting, or commercial embodiments.
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:53:18 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
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.