Assignment history

Inventors

• Mladen Thomas Strbac: Employer at the time of filing was not explicitly stated in the patent document. However, on the filing date (October 21, 2022), Mladen Thomas Strbac assigned his interest in the invention to ABC IP, LLC, suggesting he was the individual inventor.

Original assignee

The entity named on the issued patent is ABC IP, LLC.

ABC IP, LLC's primary line of business, based on the patent's content and its actions, appears to be the management and assertion of intellectual property, specifically related to firearm trigger mechanisms. The patent describes a "drop-in" replacement trigger module for AR-pattern firearms, indicating a product that could be manufactured and sold, but there is no information in the patent or readily available public records (without further deep dive beyond the scope of this request) to confirm that ABC IP, LLC itself manufactures or ships a product embodying the claims. The "IP" in its name further suggests a focus on intellectual property rather than product manufacturing.

Its current status is active, as indicated by the legal status on Google Patents.

Assignment timeline

• 2022-10-21 (executed) / recorded 2022-10-21 — Reel 006126/0889
  • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
  • Assignor: STRBAC, MLADEN THOMAS
  • Assignee: ABC IP, LLC
  • Correspondent: JOHN R. WHEAT, WHEAT IP LAW GROUP, P.C. P.O. BOX 16644 HOUSTON, TX 77222.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 11724003
    2022 : Filed by Mladen Thomas Strbac
         : Assigned to ABC IP LLC
    2023 : Issued to ABC IP LLC

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — Present. The patent was assigned from the individual inventor, Mladen Thomas Strbac, to "ABC IP, LLC" on the filing date (2022-10-21, Reel 006126/0889). The "IP" in the assignee's name strongly suggests an entity focused on intellectual property, likely for licensing or assertion, rather than an operating company that manufactures products.
2. Known asserter in the chain — Present. While ABC IP, LLC is not on the provided list of well-known high-frequency NPEs, the Google Patents page for US11724003 indicates that the patent family is involved in numerous litigations across various U.S. District Courts and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, with cases filed starting in 2025-2026. This pattern of widespread litigation is characteristic of a patent assertion entity.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Unclear. JOHN R. WHEAT of WHEAT IP LAW GROUP, P.C. is listed as the correspondent for the only recorded assignment (2022-10-21, Reel 006126/0889). While this correspondent may be associated with other asserting entities or appear in other patent chains, there is no recurrence within this specific patent's assignment chain to confirm this signal based solely on the provided information.
4. Cascading transfers — Not present. Only one assignment from the inventor to ABC IP, LLC is recorded for this patent.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — Not present. The assignment to ABC IP, LLC occurred on the filing date (2022-10-21). The earliest identified litigation for this patent family began in 2025-2026, which is more than six months after the assignment.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. There is no indication that the inventor or ABC IP, LLC has undergone bankruptcy proceedings.
7. Privateering — Unclear. There is no information from SEC filings or other public sources within the provided context to suggest an operating company transferred the patent to an NPE for assertion on its behalf.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The current assignee is ABC IP, LLC, which appears to be an asserting entity, not a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence

The high confidence verdict is based on two strong signals: the initial assignment of the patent from the inventor to "ABC IP, LLC," which is characteristic of a shell entity formed for intellectual property monetization, and the extensive litigation history of this patent family across numerous U.S. federal courts, strongly indicating an active patent assertion campaign by ABC IP, LLC. The assignment occurred on 2022-10-21 (Reel 006126/0889), and the litigation records are visible on the Google Patents page for US11724003, with cases filed as early as 2025 and 2026.

USPTO Assignment Center search for verification: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/