Assignee

Patent chain of title report and patent title search

A patent chain of title is the unbroken series of recorded documents that moves ownership from the inventors to the company that holds the patent today. Assignee builds that chain for any US patent from the USPTO assignment records, puts every conveyance in order with its reel and frame, and flags the breaks that stop a sale, a license or a loan.

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What a chain of title report tells you

A chain of title report answers three questions a buyer, lender or litigator has to settle before signing anything. Who is the owner of record right now. Did every inventor actually assign their rights to the first owner. Is anything still attached to the patent, such as a security interest that was never released.

The USPTO keeps the raw material for those answers in its assignment records, but it stores each recorded document as a separate entry. Reading them in order, matching each assignor to the assignee before it, and spotting what is missing is the work that usually takes a paralegal an afternoon per patent. Assignee does it in seconds and keeps the source document for every link, so the result can go straight into a diligence memo.

Trace ownership

Inside every patent chain of title report

  • Every inventor named on the patent, and whether a recorded assignment from each one exists
  • Each conveyance in date order, with assignor, assignee, execution date and recordation date
  • Reel and frame references that link to the recorded document
  • Documents recorded against the application before the patent issued
  • Changes of name and mergers, linked to the company that holds the patent now
  • Security agreements and the releases that ended them, matched pair by pair
  • The current owner of record, stated plainly at the top

Reports export to PDF and CSV, so the same record works for a client memo, a data room or a spreadsheet of a whole portfolio.

The title gaps the report flags

Most chain of title problems fall into a handful of patterns. The report checks each patent against all of them and lists what it found next to the document that caused it.

  • Missing inventor assignment. One co-inventor never signed over their rights, which leaves them a co-owner who can license the patent to anyone.
  • Name change without a transfer. The register still shows a name the company stopped using, and nothing connects it to the current entity.
  • Gap between owners. Company B assigns the patent to Company C, but no recorded document ever moved it from Company A to Company B.
  • Open security interest. A lender recorded a security agreement and no release followed.
  • Late recordation. An assignment was recorded long after it was signed, which matters under 35 U.S.C. 261 if someone else bought the same patent in between.
  • Conflicting assignees. Two parties each claim the patent through separate recorded documents.

Assignee compared with the other ways to get a chain of title

USPTO Assignment Search Attorney or paralegal review Assignee
Source data USPTO assignment records USPTO records plus the file history USPTO assignment records
Output List of separate recorded documents Written title memo Ordered chain of title with flags
Time per patent 30 to 90 minutes of reading Hours to days, billed by the hour Seconds
Checks inventor assignments No, you compare by hand Yes Yes, flagged automatically
Matches liens to releases No Yes Yes
Portfolio of 200 patents Not practical Large fee One export
Legal opinion on ownership No Yes No

The USPTO search is the official source and costs nothing, but it leaves the assembly to you. An attorney title opinion is still the right document when a court or a closing needs a signed legal view. Assignee sits between them, giving you the assembled chain fast so the expensive review starts from a clean record instead of raw entries.

How to run a patent title search with Assignee

  1. 1

    Enter a US patent number, an application number or the name of an owner.

  2. 2

    Assignee pulls every recorded conveyance for the patent and its application.

  3. 3

    Each record is linked to the one before it, from the inventors to the current holder.

  4. 4

    Rules check the chain and mark any break, open lien or unexplained name.

  5. 5

    Export the report to PDF or CSV, or add the patent to monitoring to hear about the next recorded document.

Who orders a chain of title report

Patent chain of title report pricing

Every plan includes chain of title reports. The Analyst plan covers 25 reports a month for one seat at $49 a month billed yearly. Professional covers 150 reports a month for three seats, and Firm covers 600 reports a month for ten seats with Excel export of whole owner lists. Compare plans on the pricing page, or see how that compares with USPTO certified copies and vendor prices in patent chain of title report cost.

Questions about patent chain of title

What is a chain of title for a patent?

A chain of title for a patent is the sequence of recorded documents that transfers ownership from the inventors to the current owner. Each document must connect to the one before it. A break anywhere in the sequence leaves ownership uncertain and can block enforcement, licensing or a sale.

How do I check the chain of title for a patent?

Look up the patent in the USPTO assignment records, read every recorded document in date order, and confirm each assignee became the next assignor. Check that every inventor signed an assignment and that each security interest has a release. Assignee does this for you and flags any gap.

What is a break in the chain of title?

A break in the chain of title is a missing link between two owners, for example a company assigning a patent it never received on record, or an inventor who never assigned their share. The break means the last owner cannot prove full title from the record alone.

Is recording an assignment with the USPTO required?

Recording is not required for an assignment to be valid between the parties. Under 35 U.S.C. 261, an unrecorded assignment is void against a later buyer for value without notice unless it is recorded within three months of its date or before the later purchase.

Does a USPTO chain of title show liens?

It shows security interests that lenders chose to record at the USPTO, along with any releases. Perfection of a security interest in a patent generally runs through a state UCC filing, so a lender should also search UCC records.

Can I use the report as proof of ownership at the USPTO?

The report gives you the reel and frame of each document in the chain, which is the information the USPTO statement of ownership under 37 CFR 3.73(c) asks for. The statement itself must be signed by the assignee or its attorney.

For the source data behind every report, see the USPTO assignment database page, or search a whole company with patent assignee search.

Run a chain of title report on your next patent

Enter a patent number and see every recorded owner, open lien and title gap before you sign.

Trace ownership