Assignment history

Inventors

• Mary Anne Fletcher: Sole inventor. No employer is listed on the patent. The invention was assigned directly to an IP holding company on the date the application was filed, a pattern often seen with professional inventors or inventions sourced specifically for monetization.

Original assignee

The original assignee of record is Weple IP Holdings LLC. The patent was assigned by the inventor to this entity upon filing. Weple IP Holdings LLC does not appear to ship any products or offer services related to the patent's claims. Public records and litigation databases show its primary business is patent licensing and assertion.

Assignment timeline

A search of the USPTO Patent Assignment Database for US patent 12,118,591 shows a single recorded assignment.

• 2024-06-07 (executed) / recorded 2024-06-11 — Reel 070265/0436
  • Conveyance: Assignment of Assignor's Interest
  • Assignor: Fletcher, Mary Anne
  • Assignee: Weple IP Holdings, LLC
  • Correspondent: IPINVESTMENTS, LLC, 10116 Hammonds Drive, Suite 100, Cordova, TN, 38016. The use of an LLC as a correspondent, rather than a law firm, is highly unusual and a strong indicator of a specialized patent monetization entity.
  • Context: Transfer from the inventor to a newly formed holding company to facilitate a licensing and assertion campaign.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 12118591
    2010 : Priority date
    2024 : Application filed
         : Assigned to Weple IP Holdings LLC
         : Litigation filed on parent patents
         : Patent issued
    2026 : PTAB IPR filed against patent

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — Present. The patent was transferred directly from the inventor to Weple IP Holdings, LLC, an entity whose name, lack of products, and subsequent litigation activity indicate it was created for the purpose of holding and asserting patents (Reel 070265/0436).

2. Known asserter in the chain — Present. Weple IP Holdings LLC is the current assignee and has been identified by litigation clearinghouses like Unified Patents as the plaintiff in multiple infringement lawsuits asserting patents from this same family (e.g., Weple IP Holdings, LLC v. various defendants, WAWD-2:24-cv-01316). The patent's own legal events record confirms this litigation history.

3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Present. The correspondent of record for the single assignment is not a law firm but "IPINVESTMENTS, LLC" (Reel 070265/0436). This points to an integrated monetization operation and is a strong signal of non-practicing entity activity.

4. Cascading transfers — Not present. Only a single assignment from the inventor to the current assignee has been recorded.

5. Pre-litigation transfer — Present. The assignment was executed on June 7, 2024. Litigation involving the parent patent family was initiated in 2024. This transfer positioned the application for assertion by Weple IP Holdings, LLC immediately upon its grant in October 2024.

6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present.

7. Privateering — Not present. The chain originates with the inventor, not an operating company.

8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The patent is held by an assertion entity.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence

The verdict is based on multiple, strong, and unambiguous signals. The patent was transferred upon filing to Weple IP Holdings, LLC, a known patent asserter with no evidence of commercial products (Reel 070265/0436). This transfer was recorded just as a litigation campaign on the parent patent family was underway, and the correspondent of record is another LLC focused on patent monetization, not a traditional law firm. These facts collectively demonstrate a clear, pre-planned patent assertion strategy.

Verify at: USPTO Patent Assignment Search (search for patent no. 12118591)