Patent 11973864

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 (4)

Asserters network →

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

2023-02-20 · reel 059940/0947 · Assignment
M2M AND IOT TECHNOLOGIES, LLC John A. Nix
Correspondent: John M. Neclerio
Transfer from an LLC to an individual
2023-02-20 · recorded 2023-02-22 · reel 059940/0948 · Assignment
VOBAL TECHNOLOGIES, LLC John A. Nix
Correspondent: John M. Neclerio
Transfer from an LLC to an individual
2023-02-20 · recorded 2023-03-02 · reel 060017/0055 · Assignment
M2M AND IOT TECHNOLOGIES, LLC NETWORK-1 TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Correspondent: John M. Neclerio
Transfer-to-asserter
2025-09-10 · reel 065799/0074 · Assignment
M2M AND IOT TECHNOLOGIES, LLC NETWORK-1 TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Correspondent: John M. Neclerio
Transfer-to-asserter

Assignment history

✓ Generated

Inventors

John A. Nix (Employer at time of filing not determinable from the provided patent text or Google Patents data.)

Original assignee

Network 1 Technologies Inc.

Network 1 Technologies Inc. is an intellectual property licensing company, and it is not known to ship products embodying the claims. Its primary line of business is patent monetization through licensing and litigation. According to Google Patents, the current assignee is M2M and IoT Technologies LLC, and then Network 1 Technologies Inc. again through subsequent reassignments. The current status of Network 1 Technologies Inc. is active.

Assignment timeline

2023-02-20 (executed) / recorded 2023-02-20 — Reel 059940/0947
- Conveyance: Assignment
- Assignor: M2M and IoT Technologies LLC
- Assignee: John A. Nix
- Correspondent: John M. Neclerio, NEWARK, DE.
- Context: Transfer from an LLC to an individual.
2023-02-20 (executed) / recorded 2023-02-22 — Reel 059940/0948
- Conveyance: Assignment
- Assignor: Vobal Technologies LLC
- Assignee: John A. Nix
- Correspondent: John M. Neclerio, NEWARK, DE. This correspondent recurs on this chain.
- Context: Transfer from an LLC to an individual.
2023-02-20 (executed) / recorded 2023-03-02 — Reel 060017/0055
- Conveyance: Assignment
- Assignor: M2M And IoT Technologies, LLC
- Assignee: Network-1 Technologies, Inc.
- Correspondent: John M. Neclerio, NEWARK, DE. This correspondent recurs on this chain.
- Context: Transfer-to-asserter.
2025-09-10 (executed) / recorded 2025-09-10 — Reel 065799/0074
- Conveyance: Assignment
- Assignor: M2M and IoT Technologies LLC
- Assignee: Network-1 Technologies, Inc.
- Correspondent: John M. Neclerio, NEWARK, DE. This correspondent recurs on this chain.
- Context: Transfer-to-asserter.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US11973864
    2023 : Assigned M2M and IoT Tech to John A. Nix
         : Assigned Vobal Tech to John A. Nix
         : Assigned M2M and IoT Tech to Network-1 Tech
    2024 : Issued
    2025 : Assigned M2M and IoT Tech to Network-1 Tech

NPE / troll-pattern signals

Shell-entity transfer — present. M2M and IoT Technologies LLC, an assignee in the chain, appears to be a licensing-only LLC. This is supported by its name suffix "Technologies, LLC" and its involvement in assignments where it then transfers the patent to Network-1 Technologies, Inc., a known patent monetizer.
Known asserter in the chain — present. Network-1 Technologies Inc. is a known patent asserter (NPE).
Repeat correspondent across the chain — present. John M. Neclerio of NEWARK, DE is listed as the correspondent for all recorded assignments: reel 059940/0947, reel 059940/0948, reel 060017/0055, and reel 065799/0074. This indicates a consistent legal representative across multiple transfers in the chain.
Cascading transfers — present. There are multiple transfers within a short period in 2023 (February and March), where M2M and IoT Technologies LLC assigned the patent to John A. Nix, and then M2M And IoT Technologies, LLC assigned it to Network-1 Technologies, Inc., all within months. The correspondent, John M. Neclerio, is the same across these assignments.
Pre-litigation transfer — present. The patent was granted on 2024-04-30. Unified Patents reports a US case filed in Texas Eastern District Court (2:25-cv-00667) and a PTAB case IPR2026-00116 filed, indicating litigation activity. Given the assignment to Network-1 Technologies Inc. on 2023-03-02 and again on 2025-09-10, prior to the reported litigation, this suggests transfers arranged to enable assertion.
Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. No evidence in the provided data suggests a bankruptcy fire-sale.
Privateering — unclear. While Network-1 Technologies Inc. is an NPE, the initial assignor's relationship to any operating company and the specifics of their assertion strategy are not detailed in the provided information to confirm privateering.
Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The chain ends with Network-1 Technologies Inc., which is a patent asserter, not a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence. This verdict is based on several strong signals, including Network-1 Technologies Inc. being a known patent asserter, the presence of shell-entity transfers, the use of a repeat correspondent across multiple assignments (John M. Neclerio), and cascading transfers of the patent within a short timeframe. The transfers occurred prior to reported litigation, further supporting an NPE assertion strategy.

Verification: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/

Generated 5/26/2026, 12:46:06 PM