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

Mary Anne Fletcher (no employer listed).

Original assignee

Weple IP Holdings LLC. No information is readily available about Weple IP Holdings LLC shipping a product embodying the claims, their primary line of business, or their current operational status.

Assignment timeline

There are no recorded assignment documents for US patent 12112357B2 on the USPTO Assignment Center. The current assignee, Weple IP Holdings LLC, is listed as the original assignee on the patent itself.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 12112357B2
    2024 : Issued to Weple IP Holdings LLC

NPE / troll-pattern signals

Shell-entity transfer — unclear. Weple IP Holdings LLC's name "IP Holdings LLC" suggests a licensing-focused entity, but without further information on products, address, or corporate structure, it's impossible to confirm it's a shell entity.
Known asserter in the chain — not present. Based on the available information, no known asserters are present in the ownership chain.
Repeat correspondent across the chain — not present. There is only one recorded assignment to the original assignee, and thus no recurring correspondent can be identified.
Cascading transfers — not present. No multiple consecutive assignments are recorded.
Pre-litigation transfer — unclear. A US case (2:24-cv-01316) related to this patent family was filed. However, without assignment records, it is impossible to determine if a transfer occurred within 6 months prior to litigation.
Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. No indication of bankruptcy for the original assignee.
Privateering — not present. No information suggests privateering activity.
Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The chain does not terminate at a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

Insufficient data. While the "IP Holdings LLC" in the assignee's name might suggest a shell entity, there are no recorded assignment documents available on the USPTO Assignment Center for US12112357B2 to provide concrete evidence for NPE activity beyond the initial assignment to Weple IP Holdings LLC. Further investigation would be required to determine if Weple IP Holdings LLC is an operating company or a non-practicing entity.