The plaintiff, Freed Designs, Inc. (“Freed Designs”), filed a patent infringement action defendant Sig Sauer. Robert Freed is the sole inventor of the ‘764 Patent, titled “Grip Extender For Hand Gun.” Freed is also the sole owner and President of Plaintiff Freed Designs. Plaintiff alleged that Sig Sauer makes, sells, and offers to sell magazine extenders that infringe the ‘764 Patent. Sig Sauer answered the complaint and raised an affirmative defense of lack of standing. Sig Sauer then moved to dismiss the complaint for lack of standing.
After the action was filed, Freed executed an “Assignment of the Invention and Patent Application” transferring to Free Designs his “entire right, title, and interest in and to” the ‘764 Patent. A few months later, Freed executed another assignment titled “Assignment of Rights, Title and Interest in Invention.” This second assignment was styled as a nunc pro tunc assignment, purporting to have an effective date of August 16, 2005 (the issue date of the ‘764 Patent).
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