Assignee

Patent landscape analysis by who owns what

A patent landscape analysis maps the patents in a field and the companies that hold them. Assignee adds the part most landscapes skip: who owns each patent today according to the record, and how that ownership changed over time.

Ownership is the layer a landscape needs

Classification codes and claim language tell you what a patent covers. Ownership tells you who can license it, sue on it or sell it. A landscape built on the assignee printed at grant can be years out of date, because patents are sold, pledged and merged after they issue. Assignee lists the owner of record and the date it changed, so your map shows the players as they stand now.

  • Group patents in a field by current owner, not original applicant
  • See which companies have been buying patents in a technology
  • Follow portfolios through acquisitions and name changes
  • Watch the field for new transfers with patent monitoring

Litigation readiness

Before filing or defending an infringement case, confirm that the plaintiff holds the rights it claims. Assignee shows each recorded step from the inventors to the current owner and flags missing inventor assignments and gaps that can raise a standing challenge.

Trace ownership

M&A and financing due diligence

Review the title and the liens on a target portfolio before an acquisition or a loan secured by patents. Assignee lists every security interest with its release status and exports a report for the deal file. More on patent due diligence. For a full schedule of patents, run a bulk patent assignment lookup.

Licensing

Find the current owner of a patent you need, including the former names under which the licensor recorded its rights, so the right party signs. Licensors use the same reports to prove title to a licensee. See patent licensing.

Portfolio hygiene

Run your own portfolio through Assignee to find inventors without recorded assignments, liens from old credit facilities that were never released and patents still recorded under a former company name. Fix them before a buyer, a lender or an opponent finds them. See IP portfolio management software.

Competitive monitoring

Follow the portfolios of competitors and see when they buy, sell or pledge patents in your technology. Search by company with the patent assignee search and add the results to a watch list.

Freedom to operate

When a search turns up patents that may block a product, the next question is who holds them. Assignee answers it for each patent on the list. See FTO analysis.

Who uses Assignee

  • Paralegals and associates at IP law firms, see patent assignment search for law firms
  • Heads of IP and licensing at technology companies
  • Analysts at funds, banks and acquirers
  • Patent brokers and licensing advisers
  • In-house patent counsel at startups and smaller companies