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.

Assignment history

Inventors

Joseph L. Vilella

The patent text for US 11,589,142 does not specify an employer for the inventor, Joseph L. Vilella. The "Current Assignee" is listed as "Individual," suggesting the inventor retained ownership at the time of grant.

Original assignee

The "Original Assignee" is listed as "Individual." This indicates the patent was owned by the inventor, Joseph L. Vilella, upon its initial filing and grant. There is no indication that the original assignee shipped a product embodying the claims.

Assignment timeline

A search of the USPTO Patent Assignment Search database for US Patent No. 11,589,142 reveals no recorded assignments. The database returns the message: "No assignments found for the search criteria." This indicates that ownership of the patent has not been officially transferred via a recorded document at the USPTO since its issuance. The ownership likely remains with the inventor.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 11589142
    2012 : Priority date
    2021 : Application filed
    2023 : Issued to Joseph L. Vilella

NPE / troll-pattern signals

Shell-entity transfer: Not present. There are no recorded assignments transferring the patent to any entity.
Known asserter in the chain: Not present. The only owner of record is the inventor.
Repeat correspondent across the chain: Not present. There are no recorded assignments to analyze for correspondent patterns.
Cascading transfers: Not present. No assignments have been recorded.
Pre-litigation transfer: Not present. While litigation has been filed (e.g., California Central District Court case 2:24-cv-06703), there is no recorded assignment within the six months prior to the filing. The inventor appears to be asserting the patent directly.
Bankruptcy fire-sale: Not present. There is no indication of bankruptcy proceedings involving the original assignee.
Privateering: Not present. There is no evidence of a transfer from an operating company to an NPE for assertion purposes.
Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE): Not present. The patent has not been transferred to a known defensive aggregator.

Verdict

Insufficient data

There are no recorded assignments for US patent 11,589,142 in the USPTO database. Without a chain of title to analyze, it is impossible to determine if the patent has been handled in a manner consistent with NPE or patent-troll patterns. The ownership appears to have remained with the inventor since the patent was granted. The presence of litigation initiated by the inventor does not, by itself, constitute an NPE pattern without further evidence of transfers or assertion behavior across a larger portfolio.

Verification link: USPTO Patent Assignment Search for US 11,589,142