Patent 11419787

Assignment history

Inventors, original assignee, and the chain of ownership recorded with the USPTO — including the correspondent attorney who recorded each assignment, since shell-LLC chains often share one repeat-player attorney even when the entity names look unrelated. Surfaces NPE / patent-troll patterns: shell-entity transfers, known asserters in the chain, repeat correspondent fingerprints, pre-litigation assignments, and bankruptcy fire-sales.

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Ownership chain (2)

Asserters network →

Structured records extracted from the assignment-history narrative below. Each entity links to its full ownership-network profile.

  1. 2022-06-13 · reel 059969/0569 · ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST

    KUKLENSKI, IAN RICHARD, KU, MARTIN C., ZACK, AARON MICHAEL, MURRAY, STEVEN J., O'KEEFFE, JAMES T.SUNLIGHTEN, INC.

    Correspondent: R. KEVIN THORNTON · POLSINELLI

    transfer-to-operating-company

  2. 2024-07-25 · reel 064287/0064 · CHANGE OF NAME

    SUNLIGHTEN, INC.SUNLIGHTEN, INC.

    Correspondent: PAUL B. JOHNSON · HOVEY WILLIAMS

    change of name only

Assignment history

Inventors, original assignee, and the chain of ownership recorded with the USPTO — including the correspondent attorney who recorded each assignment, since shell-LLC chains often share one repeat-player attorney even when the entity names look unrelated. Surfaces NPE / patent-troll patterns: shell-entity transfers, known asserters in the chain, repeat correspondent fingerprints, pre-litigation assignments, and bankruptcy fire-sales.

✓ Generated

Inventors

  • James T. O'Keeffe (Sunlighten LLC)
  • Aaron Michael Zack (Sunlighten LLC)
  • Martin C. Ku (Sunlighten LLC)
  • Ian Richard Kuklenski (Sunlighten LLC)
  • Steven J. Murray (Sunlighten LLC)

It is determinable that all named inventors were associated with Sunlighten LLC at the time of filing, as Sunlighten LLC is the original assignee and the company has pioneered patented infrared technologies.

Original assignee

The original assignee is Sunlighten LLC. Sunlighten LLC designs, manufactures, and sells infrared saunas and related wellness therapies, shipping products that embody the claims, such as their mPulse Smart Sauna, Amplify, Signature, and Solo System saunas, and lumiNIR devices. Their primary line of business is health, wellness, and fitness, specializing in infrared saunas and light therapy products. Sunlighten LLC is currently an active, operating company.

Assignment timeline

  • 2022-06-13 (executed) / recorded 2022-06-13 — Reel 059969/0569

    • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS).
    • Assignor: KUKLENSKI, IAN RICHARD, KU, MARTIN C., ZACK, AARON MICHAEL, MURRAY, STEVEN J., O'KEEFFE, JAMES T.
    • Assignee: SUNLIGHTEN, INC.
    • Correspondent: R. KEVIN THORNTON, POLSINELLI PC, 1000 WILSHIRE BLVD. SUITE 1900, LOS ANGELES, CA, UNITED STATES, 90017
    • Context: Transfer from individual inventors to Sunlighten, Inc.

  • 2024-07-25 (executed) / recorded 2024-07-25 — Reel 064287/0064

    • Conveyance: CHANGE OF NAME (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS).
    • Assignor: SUNLIGHTEN, INC.
    • Assignee: SUNLIGHTEN, LLC
    • Correspondent: PAUL B. JOHNSON, HOVEY WILLIAMS LLP, 10801 MASTIN BLVD., SUITE 1000, OVERLAND PARK, KANSAS, UNITED STATES, 66210
    • Context: Change of organizational name from Sunlighten, Inc. to Sunlighten, LLC.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 11419787
    2020 : Filed by Sunlighten LLC
    2022 : Inventors assign to Sunlighten Inc
         : Issued
    2024 : Sunlighten Inc changes to Sunlighten LLC

NPE / troll-pattern signals

  1. Shell-entity transfer — not present. The patent was assigned from the individual inventors to Sunlighten, Inc. and subsequently underwent a name change to Sunlighten, LLC. Both entities are the same operating company that manufactures and sells saunas.

  2. Known asserter in the chain — not present. Sunlighten LLC is an operating company that manufactures and sells infrared saunas and related products. There is no indication of any known NPE in the assignment chain.

  3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — not present. Two different correspondent attorneys and firms are noted: R. Kevin Thornton of Polsinelli PC for the initial assignment to Sunlighten, Inc. (Reel 059969/0569) and Paul B. Johnson of Hovey Williams LLP for the change of name to Sunlighten, LLC (Reel 064287/0064).

  4. Cascading transfers — not present. There are only two recorded events in the chain: an assignment from inventors to the operating company, and a change of name for the operating company, occurring over a period of more than two years.

  5. Pre-litigation transfer — not present. There is no litigation information available for this patent, and the transfers that have occurred are related to the original inventors assigning to their company and a subsequent corporate name change, not to enable assertion.

  6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. Sunlighten LLC is an active, operating company.

  7. Privateering — not present. The patent remains with the operating company, Sunlighten LLC.

  8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The patent is currently held by Sunlighten LLC, an operating company.

Verdict

Operating-company assertion (current assignee ships products embodying the claims and is suing actual competitors)

The verdict is "Operating-company assertion" because the patent is currently assigned to Sunlighten, LLC (Reel 064287/0064), which is an active company that manufactures and sells infrared saunas and related wellness products embodying the claims of the patent. The recorded assignments show a clear chain of ownership from the individual inventors to their operating company, Sunlighten, Inc., which subsequently changed its name to Sunlighten, LLC. The absence of NPE-related signals further supports this conclusion. The USPTO Assignment Center records can be verified at https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/.

Generated 7/4/2026, 6:01:41 AM