Assignment history

Inventors

• Michael Ragusa: The sole inventor listed on US patent 10,980,926. At the time of the original application filing on May 30, 2017, the assignee was Haemonetics Corporation, indicating he was likely an employee or contractor for Haemonetics.

Original assignee

• Haemonetics Corp: The entity named on the issued patent. Haemonetics is a publicly traded (NYSE: HAE) global healthcare company that provides a suite of medical products and services for hematology. The company manufactures and sells apheresis systems for plasma and platelet collection, which appear to embody the claims of this patent. The company is an active operating entity.

Assignment timeline

A search of the USPTO Patent Assignment Search database for US Patent 10,980,926 reveals no recorded assignments since its issuance. The initial assignment from the inventor, Michael Ragusa, to Haemonetics Corporation was recorded on May 5, 2020.

• 2020-05-04 (executed) / recorded 2020-05-05 — Reel 051939/0754
  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: RAGUSA, MICHAEL
  • Assignee: HAEMONETICS CORPORATION
  • Correspondent: Chiacchio, Trahan & Nash LLP, 125 Strafford Ave, Ste 108, Wayne, PA 19087
  • Context: Standard assignment of invention from an inventor to their employer.

No subsequent assignments have been recorded. This indicates that ownership remains with the original assignee, Haemonetics Corporation.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 10980926
    2017 : Priority date
    2020 : Application filed by Haemonetics Corp
         : Inventor assignment to Haemonetics Corp
    2021 : Issued

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer: Not present. The patent remains with the original assignee, an operating company.
2. Known asserter in the chain: Not present. Haemonetics Corporation is an operating company, not a known NPE.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain: Not present. Only one assignment from the inventor to the operating company has been recorded.
4. Cascading transfers: Not present. There have been no post-issuance transfers.
5. Pre-litigation transfer: Not present. No litigation has been filed, and no transfers have occurred. The patent is named in a PTAB IPR proceeding (IPR2026-00046) and a district court case in Colorado (1:25-cv-01409), as noted in the Google Patents legal events. However, these appear to be actions where Haemonetics is the patent owner defending the patent, not an NPE asserting it after a transfer.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale: Not present. Haemonetics Corp is a financially stable, publicly traded company.
7. Privateering: Not present. The patent has not been transferred to a third party for assertion.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE): Not present. The patent is held by its original operating-company assignee.

Verdict

• Insufficient data

There are no recorded assignments for US Patent 10,980,926 beyond the initial transfer from the inventor to the original assignee, Haemonetics Corporation. Haemonetics is a well-established operating company that manufactures products related to the patent's subject matter. Without any post-issuance transfers, there is no evidence to suggest NPE activity.

A record of the assignment can be viewed at the USPTO Assignment Search database.