Assignment history

Inventors

• Thomas M. Isaacson
• Ryan Connell Durham

The employer of the inventors at the time of filing is not explicitly stated. However, the inventors assigned their rights to Monticello Enterprises LLC. There is no information to suggest an unusual pattern of inventors departing the original assignee within 12 months of filing.

Original assignee

The original assignee, as listed on the patent and confirmed by the initial assignment, is Monticello Enterprises LLC. Based on available information, Monticello Enterprises LLC does not appear to ship products embodying the claims related to browser payment APIs. Their primary line of business, in the context of these patents, is patent assertion, as evidenced by their involvement in numerous patent infringement lawsuits. Their current status is operating.

Assignment timeline

• 2017-08-15 (executed) / recorded 2018-08-28 — Reel 046343/0651
  • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT
  • Assignor: ISAACSON, THOMAS M.; DURHAM, RYAN CONNELL
  • Assignee: MONTICELLO ENTERPRISES LLC
  • Correspondent: N/A (NO CORRESPONDENT DATA AVAILABLE).
  • Context: Inventors assigned the patent rights to Monticello Enterprises LLC.

There are no other recorded assignments for US10121186 in the USPTO Assignment Center.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 10121186
    2014 : Priority date
    2017 : Inventors assigned to Monticello
    2018 : Patent issued to Monticello
    2023 : First suit filed by Monticello

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — Present. Monticello Enterprises LLC appears to operate as a licensing-only entity. Evidence from search results indicates its primary activity concerning these types of patents is assertion against operating companies, such as Petco, Starbucks, and Macy's, rather than product development or sales. Unified Patents explicitly categorizes Monticello Enterprises LLC as an NPE (Patent Assertion Entity).
2. Known asserter in the chain — Present. Monticello Enterprises LLC is explicitly identified as an NPE by Unified Patents, a prominent anti-NPE organization, in relation to its patent assertion activities, including patents on browser payment interfaces.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Unclear. The single assignment recorded (Reel 046343/0651) has "NO CORRESPONDENT DATA AVAILABLE," so recurrence cannot be assessed from this record.
4. Cascading transfers — Not present. Only one assignment is recorded for this patent.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — Not present. The only recorded assignment (Reel 046343/0651, recorded 2018-08-28) occurred well before the first infringement suit filed in 2023.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. No evidence suggests the patent was acquired through bankruptcy proceedings.
7. Privateering — Unclear. While Monticello Enterprises LLC is an NPE asserting patents against operating companies, there is no explicit information in the provided context or search results to indicate that they are doing so on behalf of a specific operating company.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The chain ends with Monticello Enterprises LLC, which is an asserter, not a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence. Monticello Enterprises LLC is identified as the original and current assignee, and Unified Patents explicitly labels them as a Patent Assertion Entity (NPE) in the context of their active patent litigation related to browser payment APIs. This, combined with the lack of evidence that Monticello Enterprises LLC produces products embodying the claims, strongly indicates an NPE pattern. The first recorded litigation involving this patent family (6:23-cv-00761) also names Monticello Enterprises LLC as the plaintiff.

USPTO Assignment Center search page: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/