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.

(Inventors' employer at time of filing is inferred from the original assignee, Zest Labs Inc., as stated on the patent document. No information suggests inventors departing within 12 months of filing.)

Original assignee

Zest Labs Inc.

• Product Embodiment: Zest Labs Inc. (later Zest Fresh) developed and marketed solutions for post-harvest freshness management for fresh produce, which would likely embody the claims related to actively managed food delivery.
• Primary Line of Business: Providing freshness management solutions for perishable food products, particularly in the fresh produce supply chain.
• Current Status: Acquired by It's Fresh! (a wholly-owned subsidiary of AgroFresh Solutions, Inc.) in January 2020.

Assignment timeline

A search on the USPTO Assignment Center for patent 11037092 did not yield any recorded assignments. This indicates that the patent likely remains with the original assignee or its direct successor through corporate actions not requiring a separate assignment recordation for this specific patent.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 11037092
    2019 : Filed by Zest Labs Inc
    2020 : Zest Labs acquired by It's Fresh!
    2021 : Issued to Zest Labs Inc

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — not present. There are no recorded transfers to entities with names suggesting a licensing-only function (e.g., "IP," "Patents," "Holdings").
2. Known asserter in the chain — not present. No known patent assertion entities are identified as assignees.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — not present. No assignment chain is present to show repeat correspondents.
4. Cascading transfers — not present. No multiple consecutive assignments are recorded.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — not present. No recorded assignments or known litigation.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. Zest Labs Inc. was acquired, not dissolved via bankruptcy.
7. Privateering — unclear. While Zest Labs Inc. was acquired by AgroFresh Solutions, Inc. (via its subsidiary It's Fresh!), there is no public information to suggest that this patent is being used in a privateering capacity. AgroFresh is an operating company in a related field.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The patent is not currently assigned to any known defensive aggregators.

Verdict

Insufficient data (no records, or only the original assignment)

The USPTO Assignment Center shows no recorded assignments for US Patent 11037092. While Zest Labs Inc. (the original assignee) was acquired by It's Fresh! (a subsidiary of AgroFresh Solutions, Inc.) in January 2020, this corporate acquisition would typically transfer ownership of assets, including patents, without necessarily requiring an individual assignment recordation for each patent. Without further recorded assignments, there is insufficient data to identify NPE or patent-troll patterns.

Verification: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/patent/index.html