Assignment history

Inventors

• Michael Ragusa: The sole inventor listed on US patent 10,792,416. At the time of filing, the assignment record indicates the patent was assigned to Haemonetics Corporation, suggesting Mr. Ragusa was an employee or contractor for the company. There are no unusual patterns, such as a rapid departure of the inventor, associated with this filing.

Original assignee

• Haemonetics Corp: Haemonetics Corporation is the original and current assignee of record. It is a global healthcare company that provides medical products and solutions for hematology, including apheresis systems for plasma and platelet collection, which directly relate to the subject matter of the patent. As a publicly traded company (NYSE: HAE), its SEC filings confirm it is an operating company that manufactures and sells products embodying the claims. The company is currently active and operating.

Assignment timeline

A search of the USPTO Patent Assignment Search database for US patent 10,792,416 reveals a single recorded assignment.

• 2018-10-25 (executed) / recorded 2018-11-08 — Reel 4791/0001
  • Conveyance: Assignment of Assignor's Interest
  • Assignor: Michael Ragusa
  • Assignee: HAEMONETICS CORPORATION
  • Correspondent: NATH, GARY M.; NATH, GOLDBERG & MEYER; 112 S. WEST STREET; ALEXANDRIA, VA 22314
  • Context: This is the initial assignment from the inventor to his employer, Haemonetics Corporation, formalizing the company's ownership of the invention.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 10792416
    2017 : Priority application filed
    2018 : Assigned to Haemonetics Corporation
    2020 : Patent issued
    2025 : Haemonetics sues CSL Plasma for infringement

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer: Not present. The only transfer is from the inventor to Haemonetics Corporation, a well-established operating company, not a licensing-only LLC. (Reel 4791/0001)

2. Known asserter in the chain: Not present. The sole assignee, Haemonetics Corporation, is an operating company and does not appear on public lists of non-practicing entities.

3. Repeat correspondent across the chain: Not present. There is only one assignment record, making a pattern of recurrence impossible. The correspondent, Nath, Goldberg & Meyer, handled the initial assignment from the inventor.

4. Cascading transfers: Not present. There has been only one assignment in the patent's history.

5. Pre-litigation transfer: Not present. The assignment from the inventor occurred in 2018, years before the patent issued in 2020 and litigation was initiated in 2025. The ownership has been stable since the initial transfer.

6. Bankruptcy fire-sale: Not present. The original assignee, Haemonetics Corporation, is a solvent and actively operating public company.

7. Privateering: Not present. The patent is being asserted directly by the operating company that developed the technology, not by a third-party NPE on its behalf.

8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE): Not present. The patent is held by its original developer, not a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

Operating-company assertion

This patent is owned by its original assignee, Haemonetics Corporation, a global healthcare company that develops and sells medical devices, including plasma collection systems covered by the patent's claims. The single recorded assignment (Reel 4791/0001) is a routine transfer from the inventor to his employer. Recent litigation indicates Haemonetics is asserting the patent directly against a competitor, CSL Plasma, which is a classic example of an operating company enforcing its intellectual property rights.

Verify at: USPTO Assignment Search for Pat. 10,792,416