Assignment history

Inventors

• David Townley. Employer at the time of filing: Neurent Medical Ltd (implied by the assignment of rights to Neurent Medical Limited shortly after filing).

Original assignee

The original assignee, as named on the issued patent and confirmed by early assignment records, is Neurent Medical Limited. Neurent Medical Limited develops and commercializes medical devices for chronic rhinitis, such as the NEUROMARK® System, which aligns with the claims of US 12096973 for therapeutic nasal treatment using a handheld device. The company appears to be currently operating, as indicated by the recent granting of a security interest, suggesting ongoing business activities.

Assignment timeline

• 2024-06-25 (executed) / recorded 2024-07-02 — Reel 063688/0101
  • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT
  • Assignor: TOWNLEY, DAVID
  • Assignee: NEURENT MEDICAL LIMITED
  • Correspondent: KILPATRICK TOWNSEND & STOCKTON LLP, 1100 PEACHTREE STREET, SUITE 2800, ATLANTA, GA 30309-4528
  • Context: Inventor assigned rights to the operating company.
• 2024-10-18 (executed) / recorded 2024-10-21 — Reel 063852/0126
  • Conveyance: SECURITY INTEREST
  • Assignor: NEURENT MEDICAL LIMITED
  • Assignee: CLARET EUROPEAN SPECIALTY LENDING COMPANY III, S.A R.L.
  • Correspondent: ROPES & GRAY LLP, 1211 AVENUE OF THE AMERICAS, NEW YORK, NY 10036
  • Context: Security interest granted by the operating company for financing.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 12096973
    2024 : Filed by Neurent Medical Ltd
         : Inventor David Townley assigned to Neurent Medical Limited
         : Issued
         : Litigation filed against patent
         : Security Interest granted to Claret European Specialty Lending

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — not present. The patent was assigned from the inventor to an operating company (Neurent Medical Limited), and a subsequent record is a security interest, not a transfer of title to a licensing-only entity.
2. Known asserter in the chain — not present. Neither Neurent Medical Limited nor CLARET EUROPEAN SPECIALTY LENDING COMPANY III, S.A R.L. are listed as known patent asserters or NPEs.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — not present. The two recorded events have different correspondents: KILPATRICK TOWNSEND & STOCKTON LLP and ROPES & GRAY LLP.
4. Cascading transfers — not present. There are only two recorded events, one being an inventor assignment and the other a security interest, neither of which indicates rapid consecutive assignments through shell LLCs.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — not present. The inventor assignment (transfer of title) was executed on 2024-06-25, approximately three months before the first infringement suit was filed on 2024-09-24. The security interest was granted after the litigation commenced.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. There is no indication of Neurent Medical Limited being in bankruptcy.
7. Privateering — not present. The current assignee, Neurent Medical Limited, is an operating company that appears to be asserting its own intellectual property.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The chain does not terminate at a known defensive aggregator.

Verdict

Operating-company assertion
This verdict is based on the initial assignment from the inventor to Neurent Medical Limited on 2024-06-25 (Reel 063688/0101). Neurent Medical Limited is an operating company that develops and sells medical devices, which embody the claims of the patent. The subsequent record is a security interest (Reel 063852/0126), not a transfer of title for assertion purposes, and there are no other signals indicating an NPE pattern.

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