Invalidity dossier
US 11491364
Plank support exercise apparatus and related methods
Current assignee: Individual
Added 10/30/2026, 12:01:12 AM
Active provider: DeepSeek · deepseek-flash
Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
US 11,491,364 B2 – Patent Overview
Title: Plank support exercise apparatus and related methods
Patent and publication data (per the supplied source):
- Patent number: US 11,491,364 B2
- Application number: US 16/368,962; filed 2018-10-12
- Priority date: 2018-04-23 (external priority claimed from US 15/959,405, which corresponds to patent US10286245B2; a further priority claim from PCT/US2018/055589, published as WO2019075313A1)
- Pre-grant publication: US20190321678A1, published 2019-10-24
- Grant/publication date: 2022-11-08
- Inventor: Michael Harris Domesick
- Original and current assignee: Individual (the source notes that listed assignees may be inaccurate)
- Anticipated expiration (as shown): 2038-04-23
- Legal status: Active (the source states this is an assumption, not a legal conclusion)
Purpose and plain-language scope:
The disclosure concerns exercise devices and, more particularly, a "plank support exercise apparatus and related methods." The background explains that a plank is an isometric core-strength exercise in which a person holds a difficult position for extended periods; the most common, the front plank, is held in a push-up position with body weight borne on the forearms, elbows, and toes (the description cites FIG. 1 as showing a person in a front plank position in the prior art). At that level of generality, the patent is directed to apparatus that supports a user in a plank-type posture, together with associated methods. The supplied excerpt truncates the description mid-sentence ("when in the front plank position, a person 10 may maintain a push-up-like stanc…") and does not reproduce the claims. Classification data is available (e.g., A63B 21/0023 for isometric exercise, A63B 21/4035 hand-operated handles/platforms, A63B 21/4047 pivoting movement, A63B 23/12 upper-limb muscles, A63B 2208/0257 lying prone, A63B 2208/0295 on hands and feet, A63B 2210/50 stowing or transport, A63B 2225/09 adjustable dimensions), but classification alone does not define claim scope.
What the excerpt does not establish:
It contains no claim language, abstract, or full detailed description, so the precise structural features, component relationships, and scope of protection cannot be determined from the supplied material. It also does not establish commercial embodiments, actual ownership or any transfers, validity, or prior-art effects. Per instructions, no litigation, ownership-transfer, validity, or prior-art analysis is offered here.
Generated 10/30/2026, 12:01:22 AM
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Litigation summary
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Proceedings on file (0)
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No PTAB proceedings on file. This patent has not been challenged via IPR, PGR, or CBM. The absence is itself a signal — well-asserted patents eventually attract IPRs. The LLM analysis below may surface filings the ODP feed hasn’t indexed yet.
PTAB challenges
AIA trial proceedings at the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board — IPR, PGR, and CBM. Petitioners, judge panels, claim-level invalidation outcomes from Final Written Decisions, and Federal Circuit appeals. The single most important defensive datapoint after litigation history.
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.
Prior art
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Obviousness
Combinations of prior art that suggest the claimed invention would have been obvious under 35 U.S.C. § 103.
Extensions
Patent term adjustments, term extensions, continuations, divisionals, family members, and expiration dates.
Derivative works
Defensive disclosure: derivative variations of each claim designed to render future incremental improvements obvious or non-novel.