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.

Assignment history

Inventors

Shane Michael Johnston, employer not determinable from the patent document.

Original assignee

The original assignee on the issued patent US12016408B2 is "Individual" (Shane Michael Johnston). There is no information within the patent document to determine if Shane Michael Johnston ships a product embodying the claims, his primary line of business, or his current operating status.

Assignment timeline

As of May 31, 2026, a search of the USPTO Assignment Center for patent number US12016408 reveals no recorded assignments. This indicates that the original assignee, Shane Michael Johnston, likely still retains ownership of the patent.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 12016408
    2015 : Provisional application filed
    2016 : Non-provisional application filed
    2024 : Patent issued to Shane Michael Johnston

NPE / troll-pattern signals

Shell-entity transfer — not present. The patent is currently assigned to an individual, not a named entity or LLC.
Known asserter in the chain — not present. The current assignee is an individual, not on any public NPE lists.
Repeat correspondent across the chain — not present. With no recorded assignments, there is no correspondent history to analyze.
Cascading transfers — not present. No assignments are recorded.
Pre-litigation transfer — not present. No litigation is recorded for this patent, and no assignments are recorded.
Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. No assignments are recorded, and no bankruptcy information is available for the original assignee.
Privateering — not present. No assignments are recorded to suggest such a transfer.
Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The patent has not been assigned to a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

Insufficient data. As of May 31, 2026, there are no recorded assignments for US Patent 12016408 in the USPTO Assignment Center. This means the patent is still owned by the original inventor, Shane Michael Johnston, and there are no records to indicate any NPE or troll patterns.