Assignment history

Inventors

• James M. Canter (Hart InterCivic Inc.)
• Drew E. Tinney (Hart InterCivic Inc.)
• Ievgen Konovalenko (Hart InterCivic Inc.)

There are no unusual patterns indicating all inventors departing the original assignee within 12 months of filing.

Original assignee

The original assignee is Hart InterCivic Inc.. Hart InterCivic Inc. is a company that develops and manufactures election technology, including voting systems, ballot marking devices (BMD), and related software. The patent itself describes an electronic voting system utilizing printed vote records, strongly suggesting that Hart InterCivic Inc. ships products embodying the claims. Hart InterCivic Inc. is currently operating.

Assignment timeline

• 2019-01-03 (executed) / recorded 2023-10-18 — Reel 065269/0254

  • Conveyance: Assignment of Assignors Interest
  • Assignor: CANTER, JAMES M.; TINNEY, DREW E.; KONOVALENKO, IEVGEN
  • Assignee: HART INTERCIVIC, INC.
  • Correspondent: BAKER BOTTS L.L.P. 2001 ROSS AVENUE SUITE 900 DALLAS, TEXAS UNITED STATES 75201-2980.
  • Context: Internal transfer from inventors to original assignee.

• 2024-11-18 (executed) / recorded 2024-11-20 — Reel 069348/0635

  • Conveyance: Security Interest
  • Assignor: HART INTERCIVIC, INC.
  • Assignee: TEXAS CAPITAL BANK
  • Correspondent: LINDSEY E. MILLER - TEXAS CAPITAL BANK C/O HAYNES AND BOONE, LLP 2323 VICTORY AVENUE, SUITE 700 DALLAS, TEXAS UNITED STATES 75219.
  • Context: Securitization (patent used as collateral for a loan).

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 12125319
    2018 : Priority date
    2019 : Assigned to Hart InterCivic
    2023 : Application filed
    2024 : Granted
         : Security Interest to Texas Capital Bank

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — not present. The initial assignment is from the individual inventors to Hart InterCivic, Inc., an operating company. The subsequent transfer is a security interest to Texas Capital Bank, which is a financial institution, not a shell entity for licensing.
2. Known asserter in the chain — not present. Hart InterCivic, Inc. is an operating company, and Texas Capital Bank is a financial institution. Neither appears on common NPE lists.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — unclear. Baker Botts L.L.P. handled the inventor assignment, and Lindsey E. Miller (c/o Haynes and Boone, LLP) handled the security interest. There is no recurrence of the same correspondent within this specific chain of assignments. It is not possible to determine from the provided information if either firm or attorney appears on NPE assertion lists from Unified Patents or RPX.
4. Cascading transfers — not present. There are only two recorded assignments, neither of which are consecutive transfers through chained LLCs in a short timeframe.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — unclear. The patent was granted on 2024-10-22. As of today's date (2026-05-20), there is a PTAB case PGR2025-00066 filed on 2025-08-26 by Election Systems & Software, LLC.. The security interest to Texas Capital Bank was recorded on 2024-11-20. The PTAB filing date is more than 6 months after the recording of the security interest. No infringement suit filing date is available in the provided data.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. There is no indication that Hart InterCivic, Inc. has filed for bankruptcy.
7. Privateering — not present. There is no information to suggest this type of arrangement.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The chain does not end at a known defensive aggregator.

Verdict

Insufficient data. While the patent is currently owned by an operating company (Hart InterCivic Inc.) and a subsequent security interest is held by a bank, there isn't enough information to definitively rule out future NPE activity. The presence of a PTAB case indicates potential for future litigation, but no pre-litigation transfer to an NPE is evident in the current assignment records.

For verification, see the USPTO Assignment Center search page for US12125319.