Assignment history — US Patent 12102368

Inventors

W. Bret Smith (Treace Medical Concepts Inc)
Paul Dayton (Treace Medical Concepts Inc)
Sean F. Scanlan (Treace Medical Concepts Inc)
F. Barry Bays (Treace Medical Concepts Inc)
Carlos Eduardo Gil (Treace Medical Concepts Inc)
John T. Treace (Treace Medical Concepts Inc)
Robert D. Santrock (Treace Medical Concepts Inc)
Daniel J. Hatch (Treace Medical Concepts Inc)
Joe W. Ferguson (Treace Medical Concepts Inc)

Original assignee

The original assignee, Treace Medical Concepts Inc, is a publicly traded medical device company (NASDAQ: TMCI) that develops and commercializes products for the surgical treatment of bunions and related foot and ankle deformities. They ship products embodying the claims, specifically their Lapiplasty® 3D Bunion Correction™ System, which includes bone positioning and preparation guides. The company is currently operating.

Assignment timeline

The USPTO Assignment Center search page (https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/patent/index.html) was checked using patent number 12102368. As of 2026-05-28, there are no recorded assignments for US Patent 12102368 in the USPTO Assignment Center.

The Google Patents legal events section for US12102368B2 indicates a "reassignment" on 2024-09-23 to "Treace Medical Concepts, Inc.". This entry specifies "ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS)" and lists the inventors as assignors. However, without a corresponding record in the USPTO Assignment Center with a reel/frame number, full details of this specific transaction (e.g., correspondent information) cannot be independently verified or included as a formal assignment record in this timeline. Based on the Google Patents data, this appears to be a formal assignment from the individual inventors to the corporate entity.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 12102368
    2024 : Filed by Treace Medical Concepts Inc
         : Assigned to Treace Medical Concepts Inc from inventors
         : Issued to Treace Medical Concepts Inc

NPE / troll-pattern signals

Shell-entity transfer — not present. The patent remains with the original operating company, Treace Medical Concepts Inc.
Known asserter in the chain — not present. Treace Medical Concepts Inc is an operating company, not a known NPE.
Repeat correspondent across the chain — unclear. While Google Patents indicates an assignment from inventors to the assignee, without the USPTO Assignment Center record details, the correspondent cannot be identified or checked for recurrence.
Cascading transfers — not present. There are no recorded transfers in the USPTO Assignment Center.
Pre-litigation transfer — unclear. The patent was issued on October 1, 2024, and litigation (IPR2026-00194, 1:25-cv-00592) was filed subsequently. While the Google Patents record shows an assignment from inventors to the assignee on September 23, 2024, the exact date of the first infringement suit is not precisely given beyond the year "2025" for the Delaware case, making it difficult to definitively assess if this transfer was "pre-litigation" (i.e., within 6 months of a suit).
Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. Treace Medical Concepts Inc is an active, operating company.
Privateering — not present. The patent remains with the operating company.
Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The patent is held by an operating company and is involved in litigation.

Verdict

Operating-company assertion. The patent is currently assigned to Treace Medical Concepts Inc, an operating company that commercializes products embodying the claims. While litigation is pending (IPR2026-00194 and 1:25-cv-00592), there is no evidence of a transfer to a shell entity or known NPE.