Assignee

FTO analysis starts with who holds the patent

An FTO analysis (freedom to operate) asks whether a product can be made and sold without infringing someone else's in force patents. Once the search finds patents that may block the product, the next question decides what you can do about them: who owns each patent today. Assignee answers that from the recorded chain of title.

Check the owner of a blocking patent

Trace the owner of any US patent

Enter a granted US patent number like 9,876,543 or its publication number like US9876543B2.

Report

Pick a date to see the changes recorded since then.

Include security interests and releases

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Public USPTO records. No card required. Your searches stay yours.

Ownership report

US 9,567,890 B2
  1. Fetching USPTO assignment records
  2. Reading conveyances
  3. Linking assignors to assignees
  4. Checking for gaps and open security interests

Current owner of record

Owner of record

Phinia Jersey Holdings LLC

Recorded on

May 31, 2024

Reel and frame

067592 / 0662

Conveyance

Assignment of assignors interest

Chain of title

Title risk flags

No issues found in this check

Create an account to see every assignment in the chain, all title risk flags and the full PDF report.

This report shows what is recorded at the USPTO. Assignments that were never recorded do not appear in any public register. It is not legal advice.

Where ownership fits in an FTO analysis

  1. 1

    Define the product, its features and the markets where it will be sold.

  2. 2

    Search for in force patents and published applications that may cover it.

  3. 3

    Review the claims of the relevant patents with counsel.

  4. 4

    Find the current owner of each patent that remains a risk.

  5. 5

    Decide whether to design around, challenge, license or buy each one.

Steps 2 and 3 are work for your search tools and your attorney. Step 4 is where Assignee comes in.

Why the owner changes the decision

  • A patent held by an operating competitor may be hard to license.
  • A patent held by a licensing company is often available on standard terms.
  • A patent pledged to a bank may need the lender's consent to sell.
  • A patent that recently changed hands may be about to be asserted.
  • A patent with a broken chain of title may be harder to enforce.

What Assignee adds to the FTO file

  • The owner of record of every patent on the list
  • The chain of title and any title risk flags
  • Security interests that affect a license or a purchase
  • Other patents held by the same owner, from the patent assignee search
  • Alerts if any blocking patent changes hands, with patent monitoring

What it does not do

Assignee does not decide infringement or validity and does not give legal advice. It gives the attorney writing the FTO opinion an accurate, documented answer to the ownership question. For background on finding the relevant patents, read our guide to a prior art search.