Invalidity dossier
US 5303322
Tapered multilayer luminaire devices
Current assignee: 3M Innovative Properties Co
Added 9/23/2026, 9:34:39 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 — US5303322A
Title: Tapered multilayer luminaire devices
Patent number: US5303322A
Application number: US08/029,883
Inventors: Roland Winston; Benjamin A. Jacobson; Robert L. Holman; Neil A. Gitkind
Original assignee: Nioptics Corp
Current assignee (as listed): 3M Innovative Properties Co
Priority date: 1992-03-23 (claimed from US07/855,838)
Filing date: 1993-03-11
Publication/grant date: 1994-04-12
Legal status: Expired – Lifetime (anticipated expiration 2012-03-23)
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US5303322](/patent/US5303322)/en
Purpose and plain-language scope: The patent concerns luminaire devices built from tapered multilayer optical structures. The supplied text identifies recurring prior-art keywords — "layer," "light," "optical device," "angle," and "redirecting" — indicating a device that manages and redirects light through layers and angular control. The classification terms list optical effects, distribution, and illumination methods, consistent with a light-distribution device. Disclosed material and fabrication aspects visible in the text include adhesives and adhesive layers, transparent materials, fluoropolymers and fluoride salts, polysiloxanes, gels, liquid crystals (including polymer-dispersed liquid crystals), glass, polycarbonate, polystyrene, and acrylic acid groups, along with processes such as embossing, lamination, casting, molding, coating, electroforming, machining, milling, and cutting. Optical topics mentioned include distribution, bimodal and non-monotonic effects, bat-wing distributions, glare, and diffusion.
What the excerpt does not establish: The supplied text is a bibliographic and keyword/metadata excerpt, not the claims or full description. It does not provide claim language, the number or scope of claims, the detailed embodiments, or the specific configurations that distinguish the invention. It also does not establish litigation, ownership-transfer history beyond the listed reassignments, validity, or the content of prior art. The listing of assignees and legal status is expressly stated as an assumption, not a legal conclusion. No interpretation of claim scope should be drawn from this excerpt.
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:34:12 PM
Cases on file (0)
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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.