Assignment history

Inventors

• Kameshwar Durvasula
• William Londono Correa

No employer is explicitly named for the inventors at the time of filing within the provided patent text or search results.

Original assignee

The original assignee named on the issued patent US11262766B2 is Zodiac Pool Systems LLC.

Zodiac Pool Systems LLC is in the business of manufacturing and selling pool cleaning systems and related pool equipment. The patent itself describes a "Pool cleaning system and method to automatically clean surfaces of a pool using images from a camera," which directly aligns with their product line of robotic pool cleaners. The patent text describes various embodiments of a self-propelled pool cleaner (vehicle 30, 830) with features like rotatably-mounted supports, a filter, an electric motor, and a camera, all of which are components of products Zodiac Pool Systems LLC would likely ship.

Based on publicly available information and the patent's own description, Zodiac Pool Systems LLC appears to be an active, operating company in the pool equipment industry.

Assignment timeline

• 2021-07-13 (executed) / recorded 2021-07-13 — Reel 059905/0285

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: AQUA PRODUCTS, INC.
  • Assignee: ZODIAC POOL SYSTEMS LLC
  • Correspondent: Jeffrey B. Fromm, 1100 Peachtree Street, NE, Suite 2800, Atlanta, GA 30309. This correspondent's name and firm do not recur in the provided patent information.
  • Context: Internal reorg/transfer to parent company.

• 2021-07-13 (executed) / recorded 2021-07-13 — Reel 059905/0284

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: CORREA, WILLIAM LONDONO; DURVASULA, KAMESHWAR
  • Assignee: AQUA PRODUCTS, INC.
  • Correspondent: Jeffrey B. Fromm, 1100 Peachtree Street, NE, Suite 2800, Atlanta, GA 30309. This correspondent's name and firm do not recur in the provided patent information.
  • Context: Assignment from inventors to a company.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 11262766
    2012 : Filed by Aqua Products Inc. via inventors
    2021 : Inventors assign to Aqua Products Inc.
         : Aqua Products Inc. assigns to Zodiac Pool Systems LLC
    2022 : Issued to Zodiac Pool Systems LLC

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — not present. The assignees in the chain (Aqua Products, Inc. and Zodiac Pool Systems LLC) appear to be operating companies involved in the pool products industry. No indications of shell entities with names like "IP / Patents / Licensing / Holdings / Ventures" or registered-agent addresses were found.

2. Known asserter in the chain — not present. Neither Aqua Products, Inc. nor Zodiac Pool Systems LLC appear on the provided lists of known NPEs (Acacia Research Corp, Marathon Patent Group, Intellectual Ventures, IPNav, Wi-LAN, Mosaid / Conversant, Vringo, Pendrell, Innovatio IP Ventures, MPHJ Technology, Lumen View Technology, Round Rock Research, Document Generation Corp, Erich Spangenberg entities).

3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — not present. The correspondent, Jeffrey B. Fromm, appears on both recorded assignments (Reel 059905/0284 and Reel 059905/0285), but this represents a single firm handling the transfer of ownership from the inventors through an intermediate company to the ultimate assignee, all within what appears to be a related corporate structure. There is no indication of this correspondent recurring across unrelated patent assertion chains on this site.

4. Cascading transfers — not present. While there are two assignments recorded on the same day (2021-07-13), they represent the transfer from inventors to an operating company (Aqua Products, Inc.) and then from that operating company to its parent (Zodiac Pool Systems LLC), which is a common corporate restructuring rather than a cascading transfer through unrelated shell entities.

5. Pre-litigation transfer — unclear. The priority date is 2012-07-10, and the filing date is 2021-01-07. The assignments took place on 2021-07-13, and the patent was granted on 2022-03-01. There is litigation associated with this patent (IPR2026-00159 and IPR2026-00200 filed in 2026), however, the transfer occurred several years before these specific PTAB cases were filed. The Google Patents legal events section also mentions US cases filed in Texas Eastern District Court and California Southern District Court in 2025, which are more than six months after the assignments in 2021.

6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. There is no information to suggest that Aqua Products, Inc. or Zodiac Pool Systems LLC has undergone bankruptcy proceedings leading to the sale of this patent.

7. Privateering — not present. No evidence in the provided information suggests a transfer to an NPE that asserts on behalf of an operating company against competitors.

8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The chain terminates with Zodiac Pool Systems LLC, which is an operating company, not a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

Insufficient data. While the assignment timeline shows transfers, they appear to be internal corporate restructuring (inventors to Aqua Products, Inc., then Aqua Products, Inc. to Zodiac Pool Systems LLC). There are no clear signals of shell entities, known asserters, or other patterns commonly associated with NPEs in the provided assignment records or search results. The patent is currently assigned to an operating company, Zodiac Pool Systems LLC, which manufactures and sells pool cleaning systems embodying the claimed technology. The timing of the transfers also does not align closely with the identified litigation dates to suggest pre-litigation transfers.

USPTO Assignment Center search page for US11262766: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/