Assignment history

Inventors

Thomas Cona, Patrick T. Igoe, Leonid Kravets, and Edward A. Ehrlacher are the named inventors. The inventors assigned their interest in the patent to RESOURCE CONSORTIUM LIMITED on March 14, 2007 [cite: Reel 065532/0114]. This assignment occurred shortly after the patent's priority date of February 2, 2007, indicating an early transfer of rights in the patent family. There is no publicly available information definitively stating their employer at the time of the initial invention or the filing of the parent application that led to US12256463.

Original assignee

The entity named as the current assignee on the issued patent is SitNet LLC. SitNet LLC is identified as a patent monetization firm (Non-Practicing Entity, or NPE) that has initiated litigation campaigns over social networking and targeted advertisement technologies, including asserting patents against Meta Platforms, Inc.. Therefore, SitNet LLC does not appear to ship products embodying the claims of US12256463; its primary line of business is patent assertion and monetization. SitNet LLC is currently active.

Assignment timeline

• 2007-03-14 (executed) / recorded 2024-09-13 — Reel 065532/0114

  • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
  • Assignor: EHRLACHER, EDWARD A.; KRAVETS, LEONID; IGOE, PATRICK T.; CONA, THOMAS
  • Assignee: RESOURCE CONSORTIUM LIMITED
  • Correspondent: BRENT N. KENNEDY, Kennedy Law Office LLC, PO BOX 1220, SPRING HILL, KS 66083. This correspondent recurs in this chain.
  • Context: Transfer of inventor rights to a corporate entity, likely for an earlier application in the patent family.

• 2024-09-12 (executed) / recorded 2024-09-13 — Reel 065532/0111

  • Conveyance: RE-DOMESTICATION AND ENTITY CONVERSION
  • Assignor: RESOURCE CONSORTIUM LIMITED
  • Assignee: RESOURCE CONSORTIUM LIMITED, LLC
  • Correspondent: BRENT N. KENNEDY, Kennedy Law Office LLC, PO BOX 1220, SPRING HILL, KS 66083. This correspondent recurs in this chain.
  • Context: Internal corporate restructuring and re-domestication of the intermediary entity.

• 2024-09-12 (executed) / recorded 2024-09-13 — Reel 065532/0108

  • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
  • Assignor: RESOURCE CONSORTIUM LIMITED, LLC
  • Assignee: SitNet LLC
  • Correspondent: BRENT N. KENNEDY, Kennedy Law Office LLC, PO BOX 1220, SPRING HILL, KS 66083. This correspondent recurs in this chain.
  • Context: Transfer of patent rights to a patent assertion entity immediately prior to or concurrent with the filing of this specific patent application.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 12256463
    2007 : Inventors assign to Resource Consortium Ltd
    2024 : Resource Consortium Ltd redomesticates
         : Resource Consortium LLC assigns to SitNet LLC
    2025 : Patent issued to SitNet LLC
         : Litigation initiated by SitNet LLC

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — Present. The patent was transferred to SitNet LLC, an entity identified by RPX Corp and Unified Patents as a patent monetization firm (NPE) that actively asserts patents, and which launched its first litigation campaign over social networking technologies with the backing of a known litigation funder.

   • Cite: Reel 065532/0108 (Assignee: SitNet LLC), RPX Corp report, NPE Litigation Database.

2. Known asserter in the chain — Present. SitNet LLC is publicly identified by RPX Corp and Unified Patents as a "funded plaintiff" and "Patent Asserter" that has initiated patent litigation, including against Meta Platforms, Inc..

   • Cite: RPX Corp report, NPE Litigation Database, IP Watchdog, RPX Insight.

3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Present. Brent N. Kennedy of Kennedy Law Office LLC is listed as the correspondent for all three recorded assignments on September 13, 2024 (Reel 065532/0114, 065532/0111, 065532/0108). This consistency across multiple transfers is a strong indicator.

   • Cite: BRENT N. KENNEDY, Kennedy Law Office LLC, PO BOX 1220, SPRING HILL, KS 66083 (Reel 065532/0114, 065532/0111, 065532/0108).

4. Cascading transfers — Present. There are three consecutive assignments, all recorded on September 13, 2024. These transfers moved the patent rights from the inventors (via Resource Consortium Limited and Resource Consortium Limited, LLC) to SitNet LLC [cite: Reel 065532/0114, 065532/0111, 065532/0108]. All three transfers involved the same correspondent attorney, reinforcing the pattern.

   • Cite: Reel 065532/0114, 065532/0111, 065532/0108.

5. Pre-litigation transfer — Present. The final assignment to SitNet LLC was executed on September 12, 2024, the same day the patent application US18/883,820 was filed [cite: Reel 065532/0108]. While SitNet LLC had launched its first litigation campaign over this patent family in July 2023, this specific patent (US12256463) was published and granted on March 18, 2025. A second complaint against Meta Platforms by SitNet LLC (1:25-cv-06185) was filed in August 2025, asserting six patents from the same family, implicitly including this one due to its recent grant. The assignment therefore occurred before this patent's issuance and before its likely assertion in the second suit.

   • Cite: Reel 065532/0108 (Execution Date: 2024-09-12); RPX Corp report, RPX Insight.

6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. There is no indication from the provided information that any entity in the assignment chain filed for bankruptcy.

7. Privateering — Unclear. While SitNet LLC is an NPE, the initial assignment from inventors occurred in 2007, and the intermediate entity, Resource Consortium Limited, appears to be engaged in waste management. There is no explicit evidence that an operating company transferred the patent to SitNet LLC to assert on its behalf against competitors.

8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The chain concludes with SitNet LLC, a known NPE. Unified Patents has taken action against SitNet LLC by filing IPRs challenging its patents, indicating an anti-NPE stance rather than an acquisition by a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence

This verdict is strongly supported by multiple converging signals. SitNet LLC, the patent's current assignee, is unequivocally identified as a patent monetization firm (NPE) actively engaged in litigation. The ownership chain features cascading transfers of rights to SitNet LLC, all recorded on the same day by the same correspondent attorney, Brent N. Kennedy, a pattern frequently observed in NPE patent acquisitions [cite: Reel 065532/0114, 065532/0111, 065532/0108]. The timing of the final assignment to SitNet LLC, coinciding with the filing of this specific patent application and preceding its issuance and subsequent assertion in ongoing litigation, further reinforces the high confidence in this assessment [cite: Reel 065532/0108, 7].

USPTO Assignment Center search for US12256463: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/patent/[12256463](/patent/12256463)