Assignment history

Inventors

The sole named inventor for U.S. Patent 10,984,445 is Roy Shkedi. At the time of the patent application's filing (February 9, 2018), Roy Shkedi assigned his interest to AlmondNet, Inc., which subsequently assigned it to Datonics, LLC on the same date. This suggests Mr. Shkedi was a principal or founder associated with AlmondNet, Inc. and Datonics, LLC. There is no unusual pattern of all inventors departing the original assignee within 12 months of filing, as the inventor appears to be integrated with the corporate entities involved in the patent's ownership.

Original assignee

The original assignee named on the issued patent is Datonics, LLC. Datonics, LLC operates in the ad-tech industry, specializing in behavioral targeting and providing collected user profiles for advertisement placement. The patent itself describes a system to improve the monetization of electronic advertisement placement through profile-based targeting. Datonics, LLC is currently an active operating and asserting entity, as evidenced by its ongoing patent infringement lawsuits against multiple major companies in the ad-tech space, including Amazon.com, Inc., Oracle America, Inc., Adobe Inc., The Trade Desk, Inc., LiveRamp Holdings, LLC, and Neustar, Inc..

Assignment timeline

The following assignments have been recorded for US Patent 10,984,445:

• 2018-02-09 (executed) / recorded 2018-02-28 — Reel 039777/0311

  • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
  • Assignor: SHKEDI, ROY
  • Assignee: ALMONDNET, INC.
  • Correspondent: ROY SHKEDI, 120 E 56TH STREET, #1200, NEW YORK, NY 10022. This correspondent recurs in this chain.
  • Context: Inventor's initial assignment of patent rights to AlmondNet, Inc.

• 2018-02-09 (executed) / recorded 2018-02-28 — Reel 039777/0312

  • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT
  • Assignor: ALMONDNET, INC.
  • Assignee: DATONICS, LLC
  • Correspondent: ROY SHKEDI, 120 E 56TH STREET, #1200, NEW YORK, NY 10022. This correspondent recurs in this chain.
  • Context: Transfer of patent rights from AlmondNet, Inc. to Datonics, LLC.

• 2018-02-09 (executed) / recorded 2021-04-22 — Reel 051785/0745

  • Conveyance: LICENSE
  • Assignor: DATONICS, LLC
  • Assignee: ALMONDNET, INC.
  • Correspondent: ROY SHKEDI, 120 E 56TH STREET, #1200, NEW YORK, NY 10022. This correspondent recurs in this chain.
  • Context: Datonics, LLC grants a license back to AlmondNet, Inc.

• 2018-02-09 (executed) / recorded 2021-04-22 — Reel 051785/0746

  • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT
  • Assignor: DATONICS, LLC
  • Assignee: DATONICS, LLC
  • Correspondent: ROY SHKEDI, 120 E 56TH STREET, #1200, NEW YORK, NY 10022. This correspondent recurs in this chain.
  • Context: Apparent re-recording or internal confirmation of assignment to Datonics, LLC.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 10984445
    2006 : Provisional filed
    2007 : Non-provisional filed
    2018 : Inventor assigns to AlmondNet
         : AlmondNet assigns to Datonics
    2021 : Patent issued
         : Datonics licenses to AlmondNet
         : Datonics re-records assignment
    2024 : First infringement suit filed

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — present. Datonics LLC, while actively litigating and described as engaged in ad-tech business, operates a model primarily focused on licensing and asserting intellectual property, with a history consistent with Non-Practicing Entities (NPEs) in the ad-tech space, as evidenced by its extensive litigation against multiple major tech companies.
2. Known asserter in the chain — present. Datonics LLC and AlmondNet, Inc. are both known entities involved in patent assertion campaigns, as indicated by the multiple active litigations and tracking by industry observers like Unified Patents.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — present. Roy Shkedi is listed as the correspondent for all four recorded assignments for this patent on reels 039777/0311, 039777/0312, 051785/0745, and 051785/0746.
4. Cascading transfers — present. Three assignments (inventor to AlmondNet, AlmondNet to Datonics, and Datonics licensing back to AlmondNet) all occurred on the same execution date (2018-02-09) and were recorded within a short period (February 28, 2018, for the initial transfers, and April 22, 2021, for the license and re-record). This rapid succession of transfers between related entities suggests strategic portfolio management, often seen with NPEs.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — not present. The primary assignments occurred on February 9, 2018, which is over six years prior to the first identified infringement suit filed in March/April 2024.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. There is no indication of the patent being acquired through bankruptcy proceedings.
7. Privateering — unclear. While AlmondNet, Inc. is a plaintiff in one of the identified cases alongside Datonics LLC, indicating a potential collaborative assertion, there is insufficient public information to definitively state that an operating company (AlmondNet) transferred the patent to an NPE (Datonics) specifically to assert against its competitors on its behalf.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The chain does not terminate at any known defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence
This verdict is based on multiple strong signals: the presence of known asserters (Datonics LLC and AlmondNet, Inc.), the consistent recurrence of the same correspondent (Roy Shkedi) across all recorded assignments, and the cascading transfers between closely related entities with the same execution date. These patterns, combined with the extensive, multi-defendant litigation initiated by Datonics LLC, strongly indicate an NPE assertion model.

Verification of assignment records can be performed at: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/