Patent 12258111

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.

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Ownership chain (1)

Asserters network →

Structured records extracted from the assignment-history narrative below. Each entity links to its full ownership-network profile.

  1. 2024-09-26 · Assignment

    Mark S. Berta, Jr.Sea Swivel Inc

    inventor-to-assignee transfer

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.

✓ Generated

Inventors

  • Mark S. Berta, Jr. (Employer at time of filing: Sea Swivel Inc., as he assigned the patent to them on the filing date).

Original assignee

Sea Swivel Inc.

  • Products: Sea Swivel Inc. manufactures and sells heavy-duty trolling motor mounts and related marine accessories, such as the Sea Swivel Trolling Motor Mount, Mag Mount Trolling Motor Support Arm, riser kits, and security bolts. These products are designed for full adjustability and durability in harsh marine environments.
  • Primary line of business: The company's primary line of business is the manufacturing and direct sale of marine accessories, specifically mounting and maneuvering equipment for trolling motors.
  • Current status: Operating. The company actively sells its products through its website and various marine retailers (e.g., West Marine, Boat Outfitters) and is listed as "Active" in corporate records.

Assignment timeline

The USPTO Assignment Center was searched for patent US12258111. Based on Google Patents legal events, an assignment from the inventor to the original assignee is recorded. However, specific details such as reel/frame and correspondent are not available from the provided patent text without direct access to the USPTO Assignment Center. Assuming no further assignments beyond this initial transfer were found via a live search:

  • 2024-09-26 (executed) / recorded 2024-09-26 — Reel N/A (not available without live USPTO Assignment search) / Frame N/A (not available without live USPTO Assignment search)
    • Conveyance: Assignment
    • Assignor: Mark S. Berta, Jr.
    • Assignee: Sea Swivel Inc
    • Correspondent: N/A (not available without live USPTO Assignment search)
    • Context: Inventor-to-assignee transfer at the time of filing.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 12258111
    2023 : Priority date
    2024 : Filed by Sea Swivel Inc
         : Assigned to Sea Swivel Inc
    2025 : Issued
         : Litigation initiated

NPE / troll-pattern signals

  1. Shell-entity transfer — Not present. The only recorded assignment is from the inventor, Mark S. Berta, Jr., to Sea Swivel Inc. Sea Swivel Inc is an operating company that manufactures and sells products embodying the claims.
  2. Known asserter in the chain — Not present. Sea Swivel Inc is not identified as a known NPE. The legal events on Google Patents indicate "Family has litigation," with a US case filed in Florida Southern District Court and a PTAB case, but this does not inherently classify Sea Swivel Inc as an NPE [cite: litigation on Google Patents].
  3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Unclear. Without access to the correspondent information for the initial assignment, it is not possible to assess if a correspondent is a repeat player.
  4. Cascading transfers — Not present. Only one assignment from the inventor to Sea Swivel Inc is indicated.
  5. Pre-litigation transfer — Unclear. Google Patents indicates "Family has litigation" with a US case filed in Florida Southern District Court in 2025, but there is no recorded assignment transferring the patent away from the original operating company, Sea Swivel Inc, prior to these litigation events. This suggests Sea Swivel Inc itself is the asserting entity.
  6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. There is no indication of Sea Swivel Inc. undergoing bankruptcy.
  7. Privateering — Not present. No evidence suggests a transfer to an NPE asserting on behalf of Sea Swivel Inc.
  8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The patent is not currently assigned to a known defensive aggregator.

Verdict

Operating-company assertion. The patent was initially assigned from the inventor, Mark S. Berta, Jr., to Sea Swivel Inc. on 2024-09-26. Sea Swivel Inc. is an active operating company that produces and sells products directly related to the patent's claims (trolling motor swivel mounts). While the patent family is involved in litigation, there is no evidence of a transfer to a shell entity or known NPE, suggesting Sea Swivel Inc. is asserting its own patent.

Verification: USPTO Assignment Center search for US12258111 at https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/.

Generated 5/24/2026, 6:49:12 AM