Assignment history

Inventors

The inventors listed on US Patent 12,109,384 are Benjamin E. Merritt, John C. Thress, and Paul Lubock. At the time of the invention (priority date September 6, 2017) and filing, all inventors were associated with the original assignee, Inari Medical, Inc. Public records indicate Paul Lubock is a co-founder and former CEO of Inari Medical, and Benjamin Merritt is also a co-founder and Chief Technology Officer. This pattern is typical for an invention developed in-house at an operating company.

Original assignee

The original and current assignee of record is Inari Medical, Inc., a publicly-traded medical device company headquartered in Irvine, California. Inari Medical develops and commercializes products for the treatment of venous diseases, such as the FlowTriever® and ClotTriever® systems for removing blood clots from large vessels. The subject matter of US patent 12,109,384, a hemostasis valve for use with catheters, is directly related to the company's core product offerings. Inari Medical is an active operating company.

Assignment timeline

A search of the USPTO Patent Assignment database reveals a single recorded assignment for this patent.

• 2024-07-31 (executed) / recorded 2024-08-08 — Reel 069299/0423
  • Conveyance: Assignment of Assignor's Interest
  • Assignor: LUBOCK, PAUL; MERRITT, BENJAMIN E.; THRESS, JOHN C. (the inventors)
  • Assignee: INARI MEDICAL, INC.
  • Correspondent: JOSHUA E. SCHUTTENHELM, KNOBBE, MARTENS, OLSON & BEAR, LLP, 2040 MAIN STREET, 14TH FLOOR, IRVINE, CA 92614
  • Context: This is a standard confirmatory assignment, formally transferring all rights from the individual inventors to their employer, Inari Medical, Inc.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 12109384
    2017 : Priority date
    2024 : Filed
         : First infringement suit filed
         : Inventors formally assign to Inari
         : Issued to Inari Medical Inc

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — Not present. The only recorded transfer is a confirmatory assignment from the inventors to Inari Medical, Inc., a known operating company.
2. Known asserter in the chain — Not present. Inari Medical, Inc. is a product company, not a known non-practicing entity.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Not present. There is only one recorded assignment. The correspondent, Knobbe Martens, is a major national law firm representing a wide variety of clients, including many operating companies.
4. Cascading transfers — Not present.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — Not present. While the confirmatory assignment was recorded after litigation was initiated, it does not represent a transfer of ownership to a new entity for the purpose of assertion. It is a common practice to record such assignments during litigation to ensure the chain of title is clean and indisputable. Ownership effectively resided with Inari Medical since the invention, presumably via employment agreements.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present.
7. Privateering — Not present. The patent has remained with the original operating company.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present.

Verdict

• Operating-company assertion

This is a clear-cut case of an operating company asserting its own patent. The assignee, Inari Medical, Inc., develops and sells medical devices that appear to embody the patented technology. The patent has never been transferred to a non-practicing entity, and the single assignment on record is a standard confirmatory transfer from the inventors to their employer.

Verification link: USPTO Assignment Search for Pat. No. 12,109,384