Assignment history

Inventors

• Michael Patrick Bueche, Jr. (United Services Automobile Association USAA)
• Bharat Prasad (United Services Automobile Association USAA)
• Minya Liang (United Services Automobile Association USAA)
• Reynaldo Medina (United Services Automobile Association USAA)
• Charles Lee Oakes, III (United Services Automobile Association USAA)

All named inventors were employed by United Services Automobile Association (USAA) at the time of filing, as USAA is listed as the original assignee and the assignment from the inventors to USAA occurred shortly after the filing date and well before the patent's issue date. This is a standard practice for employees assigning intellectual property rights to their employer. No unusual patterns of inventors departing within 12 months are evident.

Original assignee

The entity named on the issued patent is United Services Automobile Association (USAA).
USAA is a diversified financial services group of companies that provides insurance, banking, investments, and other financial products to members of the U.S. military and their families. They ship products embodying the claims, specifically their mobile banking application that offers remote check deposit functionality. Their primary line of business is financial services.
USAA's current status is operating.

Assignment timeline

• 2024-09-17 (executed) / recorded 2024-09-25 — Reel 062837/0740
  • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
  • Assignor: BUECHE, MICHAEL PATRICK, JR.; LIANG, MINYA; MEDINA, REYNALDO; OAKES, CHARLES LEE, III; PRASAD, BHARAT (all inventors)
  • Assignee: UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION (USAA)
  • Correspondent: MICHAEL L. BARNES; KLARQUIST SPARKMAN, LLP; ONE WORLD TRADE CENTER, SUITE 1600; 121 SW SALMON STREET; PORTLAND, OR 97204.
  • Context: Internal transfer of inventor rights to the employer.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US12211095
    2024 : Filed by USAA inventors
         : Inventors assign to USAA
    2025 : Patent issued
         : First litigation filed

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — not present. The sole assignee in the recorded chain is United Services Automobile Association (USAA), which is a well-established operating company. The assignment is from the inventors to USAA, which is standard practice. [cite: 062837/0740]
2. Known asserter in the chain — not present. United Services Automobile Association (USAA) is not listed on common NPE directories as a high-frequency plaintiff. [cite: 062837/0740]
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — not present. There is only one assignment recorded for this patent, therefore no recurrence of a correspondent can be observed in this chain. [cite: 062837/0740]
4. Cascading transfers — not present. There is only one assignment recorded, showing a single transfer from the inventors to the operating company. [cite: 062837/0740]
5. Pre-litigation transfer — unclear. The assignment from the inventors to USAA was executed on 2024-09-17 and recorded on 2024-09-25 [cite: 062837/0740]. The first identified litigation, case 2:25-cv-00082, was filed in 2025 (as indicated by the case number 2:25-cv-00082, suggesting a 2025 filing year). While the assignment predates the litigation, it is an inventor assignment to their employer, which is common and often a prerequisite for patent prosecution, rather than a strategic transfer to enable immediate assertion.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. There is no indication that USAA has filed for bankruptcy or that the patent was acquired through such proceedings.
7. Privateering — not present. USAA maintains ownership of the patent, and there is no public information suggesting a transfer to an NPE for assertion on their behalf.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The patent remains assigned to USAA, an operating company, and has not been transferred to a known defensive aggregator.

Verdict

Operating-company assertion
The patent US12211095 is currently assigned to United Services Automobile Association (USAA), which is an operating company that offers mobile banking products embodying the claims of the patent. The sole recorded assignment is a standard transfer of inventor rights to their employer, executed 2024-09-17 and recorded 2024-09-25 (Reel 062837/0740), well before the first litigation in 2025. This pattern is consistent with an operating company protecting and potentially asserting its own technology against competitors or infringers.

Link to USPTO Assignment Center search for US12211095