Assignment history

Inventors

• Peter A. Mehring: Zest Labs Inc.
• Thomas C. Reese: Zest Labs Inc.
• Dean M. Kawaguchi: Zest Labs Inc.
• Sameer Dekate: Zest Labs Inc.
• Russell Shikami: Zest Labs Inc.

Original assignee

Zest Labs Inc. was the original assignee. Zest Labs, Inc. develops and markets solutions for monitoring and managing the freshness of perishable food products throughout the supply chain. While I cannot definitively state they "shipped a product embodying the claims" without further product-specific information, their business directly aligns with the patent's subject matter of actively managed food delivery. Zest Labs Inc. is currently operating.

Assignment timeline

• 2019-04-01 (executed) / recorded 2019-04-01 – Reel 048039/0950

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: KAWAGUCHI, DEAN M.; REESE, Thomas C.; SHIKAMI, Russell; DEKATE, Sameer; MEHRING, PETER A.
  • Assignee: INTELLEFLEX CORPORATION
  • Correspondent: RENE M. TEGTMEYER; TEGTMEYER & TEGTMEYER LLP; 1270 NEWPORT ROAD; MERIDEN, CT 06450
  • Context: Transfer of inventors' interests to a corporate entity.

• 2019-04-01 (executed) / recorded 2019-04-01 – Reel 048039/0952

  • Conveyance: Change of Name
  • Assignor: INTELLEFLEX CORPORATION
  • Assignee: ZEST LABS, INC.
  • Correspondent: RENE M. TEGTMEYER; TEGTMEYER & TEGTMEYER LLP; 1270 NEWPORT ROAD; MERIDEN, CT 06450. This correspondent recurs in this chain.
  • Context: Corporate name change.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 10423918B2
    2019 : Inventors assigned to INTELLEFLEX
         : INTELLEFLEX changed name to ZEST LABS

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — not present. The initial assignment was from the inventors to Intelleflex Corporation, which then changed its name to Zest Labs, Inc. Both appear to be operating companies involved in the relevant technology.
2. Known asserter in the chain — not present. Neither Intelleflex Corporation nor Zest Labs, Inc. are identified on common NPE lists.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — present. Rene M. Tegtmeyer of Tegtmeyer & Tegtmeyer LLP appears as the correspondent for both the assignment from the inventors to Intelleflex Corporation (Reel 048039/0950) and the subsequent change of name from Intelleflex Corporation to Zest Labs, Inc. (Reel 048039/0952).
4. Cascading transfers — not present. There are two transfers recorded on the same date, 2019-04-01, but they represent an assignment from inventors followed immediately by a name change, not multiple consecutive assignments through distinct LLCs.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — not present. A search for litigation involving this patent was not conducted as part of the initial prompt, so this cannot be confirmed.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. There is no indication of bankruptcy proceedings for the assignors or assignees.
7. Privateering — unclear. There is no publicly available information in the provided text to suggest this pattern.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The chain terminates with Zest Labs, Inc., which is an operating company.

Verdict

Insufficient data. While there is a repeat correspondent (Rene M. Tegtmeyer of Tegtmeyer & Tegtmeyer LLP on Reel 048039/0950 and Reel 048039/0952), the assignments primarily reflect the initial transfer from inventors to a corporate entity and a subsequent name change. There are no other strong signals like transfers to known shell entities or multiple rapid transfers to suggest an NPE pattern with high confidence.

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