Invalidity dossier
US 7257288
Added 9/24/2026, 2:00:36 AM
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Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
US7257288 — Tunable Optical Routing Systems: Overview
Title: Tunable optical routing systems
Patent number: US7257288B1
Application number: US11/113,822
Inventors: Thomas Andrew Strasser; Jefferson L. Wagener; Christopher S. Koeppen
Original assignee: Nistica Inc
Current assignee (as listed): Molex LLC
Priority date: 2004-04-23
Filing date: 2005-04-25
Grant/publication date: 2007-08-14
Legal status (as listed): Expired – Lifetime; anticipated expiration 2025-04-25
Purpose and plain-language scope
The supplied excerpt provides the bibliographic record, classification scheme, and assignment history, but no abstract, claims, or description text. It therefore does not establish the invention's purpose or its plain-language scope. The only substantive scope signals available are the prior-art keywords — optical, wavelength, tilt, routing device, mirror — and the classifications, which place the subject matter in optical light guides and coupling (G02B6/24, G02B6/26) and, more specifically, in wavelength-selective coupling means operating by diffraction as a bulk (free-space) element external to a light guide, in reflection (G02B6/2931, G02B6/29305, G02B6/29304), with means for controlling the position or direction of light incident to or leaving the diffractive element, "e.g. for varying the wavelength response" (G02B6/29313), including by moving or modifying the diffractive element (G02B6/29314), and in multiplexing/demultiplexing including adding or dropping a signal (G02B6/29379, G02B6/2938, G02B6/29382).
From these classification entries alone, the patent is directed toward tunable, wavelength-selective optical routing in a free-space arrangement — consistent with a routing device using a mirror and tilt — but this is classification metadata, not claim language.
Material in the record: multiple reassignments appear, including security interests and releases involving MMV Financial Inc., RBC Bank (USA)/PNC, and later a change of name to AFL Telecommunications, Inc., then assignment to Molex, LLC; a 2022 security interest naming JPMorgan Chase Bank as collateral agent. These entries are recorded as listed; no conclusions are drawn from them.
What the excerpt does not establish: the invention's actual purpose, claims, embodiments, or novelty/validity; any comparison to prior art; any litigation.
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:30:58 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.