Patent 11986946

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.

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Ownership chain (1)

Asserters network →

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

  1. 2023-11-22 · recorded 2023-11-27 · reel 061205/0285 · Assignment

    CAI, SHUJUN; WANG, QIANG; ZHANG, HONGQUANMERIDIAN INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD.

    Correspondent: WANG, YAN · SONG, WANG & PARTNERS

    Initial assignment of patent rights from the inventors to the employing operating company.

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

  • Hongquan Zhang (Meridian International Co., Ltd.)
  • Qiang Wang (Meridian International Co., Ltd.)
  • Shujun CAI (Meridian International Co., Ltd.)

All inventors appear to be associated with Meridian International Co., Ltd., the original assignee, at the time of the patent application filing (2023-11-22). This is a standard pattern for inventor assignment to an employer.

Original assignee

The original assignee on the issued patent is Meridian International Co., Ltd. This company, established in 1992 and located in Shanghai, China, is an active manufacturer and distributor of hand tools, storage tools, garden tools, and power tool accessories. They market products under brands such as "TACTIX," "ONSITE," and "YARDSMITH". Meridian International Co., Ltd. ships products, specifically modular storage boxes and tool cases, that embody the claims of US11986946, as evidenced by their "Tactix 3-Piece Modular Storage Set" which features interlockable storage units with side latches. The company is currently operating.

Assignment timeline

  • 2023-11-22 (executed) / recorded 2023-11-27 — Reel 061205/0285
    • Conveyance: Assignment
    • Assignor: CAI, SHUJUN; WANG, QIANG; ZHANG, HONGQUAN
    • Assignee: MERIDIAN INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD.
    • Correspondent: WANG, YAN, SONG, WANG & PARTNERS, P.C., 3435 BRANDYWINE ST., N.W., WASHINGTON, DC 20008
    • Context: Initial assignment of patent rights from the inventors to the employing operating company.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 11986946
    2023 : Inventors assign to Meridian Intl
    2024 : Patent Issued

NPE / troll-pattern signals

  1. Shell-entity transfer — Not present. The only recorded assignment is from the inventors to Meridian International Co., Ltd., which is an operating company that manufactures products embodying the patent's claims [cite: Reel 061205/0285].
  2. Known asserter in the chain — Not present. Meridian International Co., Ltd. is not identified as a known NPE.
  3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Unclear. Only one assignment is recorded for this patent (Reel 061205/0285), handled by WANG, YAN of SONG, WANG & PARTNERS, P.C. There is insufficient data within this specific patent's assignment chain to identify a repeat pattern for this correspondent.
  4. Cascading transfers — Not present. Only one assignment is recorded [cite: Reel 061205/0285].
  5. Pre-litigation transfer — Not present. The inventor-to-company assignment was executed on 2023-11-22 and recorded on 2023-11-27, before the patent's issuance on 2024-05-21. This is a standard practice. While litigation (8:24-cv-01840 and IPR2025-01461) was subsequently filed (in 2024 and 2025 respectively), the assignment itself was not a transfer to a new asserting entity immediately prior to litigation, but rather the initial ownership establishment with the operating company.
  6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. Meridian International Co., Ltd. is an active operating company.
  7. Privateering — Not present. There is no evidence of an operating company transferring this patent to an NPE to assert on its behalf.
  8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The patent is currently held by Meridian International Co., Ltd.

Verdict

Operating-company assertion
The patent is currently assigned to Meridian International Co., Ltd., an operating company that actively manufactures and sells modular storage boxes that embody the claims of US11986946 [cite: 1, 6, 11, Reel 061205/0285]. The only recorded assignment is a standard transfer from the inventors to this operating company [cite: Reel 061205/0285]. Although there is ongoing litigation (a US district court case and a PTAB IPR), these appear to be assertions by the operating company rather than an NPE.

Verify on USPTO Assignment Center

Generated 5/22/2026, 12:49:35 PM