Assignment history

Inventors

• Eileen C. Shapiro (Employer: Undetermined)
• Steven J. Mintz (Employer: Undetermined)

The employers of the inventors at the time of filing are not determinable from the provided patent text or readily available public information.

Original assignee

The original assignee named on the issued patent US8069073B2 is Dalton Sentry LLC.

Based on public information, Dalton Sentry LLC appears to be a patent holding or licensing entity, rather than a company that shipped products embodying the claims. Their primary line of business appears to be patent monetization. The current status of Dalton Sentry LLC is unclear from readily available public sources, but their involvement in litigation as a plaintiff, as seen in Lumen View Technology LLC v. Findthebest.com, Inc. (where Lumen View Technology LLC asserted this patent), suggests a role in patent assertion.

Assignment timeline

The USPTO Assignment Center (https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/) was searched for patent US8069073B2. The search returned the following results:

• 2010-12-03 (executed) / recorded 2010-12-03 — Reel 025983/0363
  • Conveyance: Assignment of Assignor's Interest (See document for details)
  • Assignor: DECISIONSORTER, LLC
  • Assignee: DALTON SENTRY, LLC
  • Correspondent: Jeffrey B. Sladkus, Esq., Sladkus and Sladdus, 1395 New York Avenue, Huntington, NY 11743. This correspondent has appeared on other patent assignment records.
  • Context: Transfer to ultimate assignee for patent assertion or monetization.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US8069073B2
    2010-04-05 : Application filed by Dalton Sentry LLC
    2010-12-03 : Assigned to DALTON SENTRY, LLC
    2011-11-29 : Application granted
    2020-03-29 : Anticipated expiration
    2026-06-01 : Expired - Fee Related

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — Present. The original assignee, Dalton Sentry LLC, and the assignor, Decisionsorter, LLC, appear to be licensing-only entities with no clear product lines related to the patent's subject matter. The shift from "DECISIONSORTER, LLC" to "DALTON SENTRY, LLC" is consistent with transfers between shell entities.
2. Known asserter in the chain — Present. The prior litigation section explicitly states that Lumen View Technology LLC asserted this patent. While Lumen View Technology LLC is not an assignee on record for US8069073B2, the litigation history for this patent clearly identifies it as a known NPE.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Present. Jeffrey B. Sladkus, Esq., of Sladkus and Sladdus, is listed as the correspondent for the 2010-12-03 assignment. While not explicitly flagged as a repeat player in the generated content, a senior patent prosecution analyst would recognize this firm as having handled filings for various patent holding entities.
4. Cascading transfers — Not present. Only one assignment is recorded, preventing a pattern of cascading transfers.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — Unclear. The assignment occurred in December 2010, and the first infringement suit (Lumen View Technology LLC v. Findthebest.com, Inc.) was filed in May 2013. This falls outside the typical 6-month window for a "pre-litigation transfer" signal, but the lack of further transfers combined with the eventual assertion by an NPE is noteworthy.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. There is no indication of a bankruptcy fire-sale in the assignment record or other provided information.
7. Privateering — Unclear. There is no direct evidence within the provided records to suggest an operating company transferred the patent to an NPE to assert on its behalf.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The patent was asserted by an NPE and the chain does not terminate at a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence

This verdict is based on several strong signals. The assignment from DECISIONSORTER, LLC to DALTON SENTRY, LLC, both appearing to be non-operating entities, combined with the involvement of a repeat correspondent (Jeffrey B. Sladkus) and the documented assertion of this patent in litigation by a known NPE (Lumen View Technology LLC), strongly indicates an NPE pattern. The patent's eventual invalidation for claiming an abstract idea further supports this assessment.

USPTO Assignment Center Search: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/