Assignment history

Inventors

• Peter A. Mehring: Employed by Zest Labs Inc. at the time of filing.
• Thomas C. Reese: Employed by Zest Labs Inc. at the time of filing.
• Dean M. Kawaguchi: Employed by Zest Labs Inc. at the time of filing.
• Sameer Dekate: Employed by Zest Labs Inc. at the time of filing.
• Russell Shikami: Employed by Zest Labs Inc. at the time of filing.

Original assignee

Zest Labs Inc. (the AgTech company, not the supplement company) was an operating company focused on developing post-harvest freshness management services and solutions for the food distribution and delivery system, with products such as Zest Fresh. Its primary line of business involved cold chain monitoring and predictive analytics to improve food quality and reduce waste for perishable food products. Zest Labs Inc. was a subsidiary of Ecoark Holdings, Inc., and PitchBook indicates an acquisition by RiskOn International in 2013, though the company continued operations and filed this patent in 2021, suggesting its status as an operating entity at the time of filing for this patent.

Assignment timeline

• 2021-06-23 (executed) / recorded 2021-07-28 — Reel 056461/0810

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: MEHRING, PETER A.; REESE, THOMAS C.; KAWAGUCHI, DEAN M.; DEKATE, SAMEER; SHIKAMI, RUSSELL
  • Assignee: INTELLEFLEX CORPORATION
  • Correspondent: BRENT W. LABARGE, ESQ., 20400 STEVENS CREEK BLVD., SUITE 350, CUPERTINO, CA 95014
  • Context: Inventors assigned their rights to Intelleflex Corporation.

• 2021-06-23 (executed) / recorded 2021-07-28 — Reel 056461/0811

  • Conveyance: Change of Name
  • Assignor: INTELLEFLEX CORPORATION
  • Assignee: ZEST LABS, INC.
  • Correspondent: BRENT W. LABARGE, ESQ., 20400 STEVENS CREEK BLVD., SUITE 350, CUPERTINO, CA 95014. This correspondent also recurs on the previous record in this chain.
  • Context: Intelleflex Corporation legally changed its name to Zest Labs, Inc.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 12008509B2
    2015 : Priority date
    2021 : Inventors assign to Intelleflex Corp
         : Intelleflex Corp becomes Zest Labs Inc
         : Application filed by Zest Labs Inc
    2024 : Patent granted to Zest Labs Inc

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — not present. The patent transferred from the individual inventors to Intelleflex Corporation, which then underwent a name change to Zest Labs, Inc., an operating company. There is no evidence of a transfer to a licensing-only shell entity.
2. Known asserter in the chain — not present. Neither Intelleflex Corporation nor Zest Labs, Inc. are identified as known high-frequency patent asserters.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — present. Brent W. LaBarge, Esq. of 20400 Stevens Creek Blvd., Suite 350, Cupertino, CA 95014 is listed as the correspondent for both recorded assignment entries (Reel 056461/0810 and Reel 056461/0811).
4. Cascading transfers — not present. The two recorded events represent a direct assignment from inventors followed by a name change, both executed and recorded on the same dates, not a series of transfers through chained LLCs.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — not present. The transfers occurred during the patent's prosecution phase, well before any potential litigation, and no litigation information is available for this patent.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. While Zest Labs (the AgTech company) was acquired in 2013, the assignments for this patent reflect an inventor assignment and a corporate name change, not a sale due to bankruptcy proceedings.
7. Privateering — not present. There is no indication of an operating company transferring this patent to an NPE for assertion against competitors.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The patent chain does not terminate at a known defensive aggregator like RPX or AST.

Verdict

Insufficient data.
The assignment record for US12008509B2 consists solely of an initial assignment from the inventors to Intelleflex Corporation, immediately followed by a recorded change of name from Intelleflex Corporation to Zest Labs, Inc., both executed on 2021-06-23 and recorded on 2021-07-28 (Reel 056461/0810, Reel 056461/0811). While a repeat correspondent is noted for these two related events, there are no subsequent transfers or other signals indicative of an NPE. The patent appears to remain with the original operating entity (under its new name) that filed for it.

USPTO Assignment Center search for 12008509B2