Assignment history

Inventors

• Thien Nguyen: Employer not determinable from the provided text.
• Tam Thanh Pham: Employer not determinable from the provided text.

(Note: The patent does not explicitly state the inventors' employers at the time of filing. The original assignee is Solmetex LLC, but whether the inventors were direct employees at the time is not specified.)

Original assignee

The original assignee named on the issued patent is Solmetex LLC.

Based on publicly available information, Solmetex LLC is an operating company whose primary line of business appears to be dental amalgam separators and other dental waste management solutions. They currently market and sell the "Dryshield" intraoral device, which is consistent with the claims of US11589970. Solmetex LLC appears to be an active, operating company.

Assignment timeline

• 2014-01-06 to 2014-01-07 (executed) / recorded 2014-03-27 — Reel 032545/0891

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: Thien Nguyen; Tam Thanh Pham
  • Assignee: Incept, Inc., California
  • Correspondent: Not specified in the provided text.
  • Context: Transfer of inventors' interest to an initial assignee.

• 2017-01-27 (executed) / recorded 2017-06-20 — Reel 042916/0954

  • Conveyance: Conversion
  • Assignor: Incept Incorporated
  • Assignee: Dryshield, LLC, California
  • Correspondent: Not specified in the provided text.
  • Context: Conversion of Incept Incorporated to Dryshield, LLC.

• 2022-06-03 (executed) / recorded 2022-06-03 — Reel 060099/0397

  • Conveyance: Security Interest
  • Assignor: Dryshield, LLC
  • Assignee: Midcap Financial Trust, Maryland
  • Correspondent: Not specified in the provided text.
  • Context: Security interest granted to Midcap Financial Trust.

• 2022-05-09 (executed) / recorded 2022-06-06 — Reel 060107/0030

  • Conveyance: Assignment of Assignors Interest
  • Assignor: Dryshield, LLC
  • Assignee: Solmetex, LLC, Massachusetts
  • Correspondent: Not specified in the provided text.
  • Context: Assignment of Dryshield, LLC's interest to Solmetex, LLC.

• 2022-06-03 (executed) / recorded 2022-11-02 — Reel 061637/0932

  • Conveyance: Security Interest
  • Assignor: Dryshield, LLC
  • Assignee: Midcap Financial Trust, Maryland
  • Correspondent: Not specified in the provided text.
  • Context: Security interest granted to Midcap Financial Trust. (Note: This appears to be a re-recording or additional recording of a security interest, with the same effective date as 060099/0397).

• 2025-03-18 (executed) / recorded 2025-03-18 — Reel 070544/0954

  • Conveyance: Security Interest
  • Assignor: Solmetex, LLC; Sterisil, Inc.; Dryshield, LLC; and others
  • Assignee: Churchill Agency Services LLC, as Administrative Agent, New York
  • Correspondent: Not specified in the provided text.
  • Context: Security interest granted to Churchill Agency Services LLC by Solmetex and related entities.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 11589970
    2014 : Inventors assigned to Incept
    2017 : Incept converted to Dryshield LLC
    2022 : Security interest to Midcap
         : Dryshield assigned to Solmetex
         : Security interest to Midcap
    2025 : Security interest to Churchill

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — unclear. While Incept, Inc. and Dryshield, LLC appear in the chain, their business activities are not explicitly detailed enough in the provided text to definitively label them as shell entities. Solmetex, LLC, the current assignee, is an operating company.
2. Known asserter in the chain — not present. None of the listed assignees (Incept, Dryshield, Midcap Financial Trust, Solmetex, Churchill Agency Services LLC) are identified as known NPEs in the provided information.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — unclear. The correspondent information (attorney name, firm, address) is "Not specified in the provided text" for all recorded assignments. Without this information, it's impossible to determine if a repeat correspondent pattern exists.
4. Cascading transfers — not present. While there are multiple transfers, they are spread across several years (2014, 2017, 2022, 2025) and include conversions and security interests, not rapid consecutive assignments between chained LLCs within a short timeframe.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — unclear. The patent mentions a PTAB case IPR2025-01057 (filed March 18, 2025) and a US case filed in Michigan Western District Court (case 1:24-cv-00954). The most recent assignment is a security interest on 2025-03-18 (Reel 070544/0954). This security interest was recorded on the same date as the PTAB case filing, but it is not an assignment of ownership. The last actual assignment of ownership was Dryshield, LLC to Solmetex, LLC on 2022-05-09 / 2022-06-06 (Reel 060107/0030), which is more than 6 months before the identified litigation. Therefore, a direct pre-litigation transfer of ownership is not evident.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. There is no indication in the provided information that any of the assignors filed for bankruptcy leading to a sale of the patent.
7. Privateering — unclear. The information provided does not contain details about any arrangements between operating companies and NPEs.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The chain does not terminate at a known defensive aggregator.

Verdict

Insufficient data. While the current assignee, Solmetex LLC, appears to be an operating company, the lack of correspondent information for the assignments prevents a thorough analysis for NPE patterns, particularly regarding repeat correspondents. Additionally, without more specific details about the business activities of Incept, Inc. and Dryshield, LLC, a definitive call on shell-entity transfers cannot be made.