Patent 11690782

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.

Active provider: Google · gemini-2.5-flash

Ownership chain (2)

Asserters network →

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

  1. 2022-12-16 · reel 059914/0839 · Assignment

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

    Correspondent: BRENT D. WETHERALL · STINSON

    internal reorg

  2. 2024-07-25 · reel 063590/0734 · Change of Name

    SUNLIGHTEN, INC.SUNLIGHTEN, INC.

    Correspondent: BRENT D. WETHERALL · STINSON

    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 at time of filing)
  • Aaron Michael Zack (Sunlighten LLC at time of filing)
  • Martin C. Ku (Sunlighten LLC at time of filing)
  • Ian Richard Kuklenski (Sunlighten LLC at time of filing)
  • Steven J. Murray (Sunlighten LLC at time of filing)

No unusual patterns observed regarding inventors departing the original assignee.

Original assignee

The original assignee, as named on the issued patent US11690782B2, is Sunlighten LLC. Sunlighten LLC is an operating company that manufactures and sells infrared saunas and related products. Their primary line of business is the design, manufacturing, and distribution of wellness products, particularly infrared saunas. Sunlighten LLC is currently operating.

Assignment timeline

  • 2022-12-16 (executed) / recorded 2022-12-16 — Reel 059914/0839

    • Conveyance: Assignment of Assignors Interest
    • Assignor: KUKLENSKI, IAN RICHARD; KU, MARTIN C.; ZACK, AARON MICHAEL; MURRAY, STEVEN J.; O'KEEFFE, JAMES T.
    • Assignee: SUNLIGHTEN, INC.
    • Correspondent: BRENT D. WETHERALL, STINSON LLP, 1201 WALNUT, SUITE 2900, KANSAS CITY, MO 64106
    • Context: Internal transfer of inventor interests to a corporate entity, likely for administrative purposes or as part of employment agreements.

  • 2024-07-25 (executed) / recorded 2024-07-25 — Reel 063590/0734

    • Conveyance: Change of Name
    • Assignor: SUNLIGHTEN, INC.
    • Assignee: SUNLIGHTEN, LLC
    • Correspondent: BRENT D. WETHERALL, STINSON LLP, 1201 WALNUT, SUITE 2900, KANSAS CITY, MO 64106 (This correspondent recurs in this chain.)
    • Context: Corporate name change or restructuring.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 11690782
    2008 : Priority date
    2022 : Application filed by Sunlighten LLC
    2022 : Inventors assign to Sunlighten Inc
    2023 : Patent Granted
    2024 : Sunlighten Inc changes to LLC

NPE / troll-pattern signals

  1. Shell-entity transfer — not present. The assignees (SUNLIGHTEN, INC. and SUNLIGHTEN, LLC) appear to be operating entities involved in the sauna business.
  2. Known asserter in the chain — not present. None of the assignees (SUNLIGHTEN, INC., SUNLIGHTEN, LLC) match known NPE lists.
  3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — present. BRENT D. WETHERALL of STINSON LLP appears as the correspondent for both the 2022-12-16 assignment and the 2024-07-25 change of name.
  4. Cascading transfers — not present. There are only two recorded assignments, one being an initial inventor assignment and the other a change of name, spanning a period greater than 24 months.
  5. Pre-litigation transfer — unclear. No litigation information is readily available in the provided patent text.
  6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. There is no indication of bankruptcy for Sunlighten LLC or Sunlighten, Inc.
  7. Privateering — not present. No evidence of a transfer to an NPE asserting on behalf of an operating company.
  8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The chain does not terminate at a known defensive aggregator.

Verdict

Operating-company assertion. The patent remains with Sunlighten, LLC, an operating company that manufactures and sells products embodying the claims, as indicated by the initial assignment from the inventors to Sunlighten, Inc. (later renamed Sunlighten, LLC) in 2022 and 2024 respectively. There are no transfers to known NPEs or shell entities, suggesting the patent is held for commercial purposes.

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

Generated 7/4/2026, 6:45:25 PM