Assignment history

Inventors

Alexis HOWERTON and Hal GERBER are the named inventors of US12569491B2. They were presumably employees or contractors of Spruce Biosciences Inc., the original assignee, at the time the patent application was filed on 2025-01-31. No unusual patterns, such as inventors departing the original assignee shortly after filing, are discernible from the provided information.

Original assignee

The original assignee named on the issued patent US12569491B2 is Spruce Biosciences Inc. Spruce Biosciences Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing therapies for rare endocrine disorders. The patent's title, "Methods for treating testicular and ovarian adrenal rest tumors," aligns with the company's primary line of business. As of the current date, Spruce Biosciences Inc. appears to be an operating company, although a security interest in this patent has been granted to Avenue Capital Management II, L.P.

Assignment timeline

There is one recorded assignment for US12569491 in the USPTO Patent Assignment Search database as of 2026-06-19.

• 2026-01-11 (executed) / recorded 2026-01-12 — Reel 061266/0126
  • Conveyance: SECURITY AGREEMENT
  • Assignor: SPRUCE BIOSCIENCES, INC.
  • Assignee: AVENUE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT II, L.P.
  • Correspondent: ROBERT J. SAXTON, LATHAM & WATKINS LLP, 1271 AVENUE OF THE AMERICAS, NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10020
  • Context: securitization/financing agreement where the patent (or a portfolio including it) serves as collateral.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 12569491
    2025 : Filed by Spruce Biosciences Inc
    2026 : Security agreement to Avenue Capital
         : Patent Issued

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — not present. The recorded transaction is a security agreement from Spruce Biosciences Inc., an operating biopharmaceutical company, to Avenue Capital Management II, L.P., an investment firm. This is a financing arrangement rather than a transfer to a licensing-only shell entity.
2. Known asserter in the chain — not present. Neither Spruce Biosciences Inc. nor Avenue Capital Management II, L.P. are recognized as known patent assertion entities (NPEs).
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — not present. There is only one recorded assignment in the chain, handled by ROBERT J. SAXTON of LATHAM & WATKINS LLP. No recurrence can be observed.
4. Cascading transfers — not present. Only one security agreement is recorded, thus no cascading transfers are present.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — not present. The security agreement was executed on 2026-01-11 and recorded on 2026-01-12. The patent was issued on 2026-03-10. There is no public record of an infringement suit naming this patent filed within six months of this security agreement or the patent's issuance.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. The recorded transaction is a security agreement, and there is no indication that Spruce Biosciences Inc. has undergone bankruptcy proceedings.
7. Privateering — not present. The security agreement does not suggest a transfer to an NPE for assertion on behalf of an operating company.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The recorded assignees are not defensive aggregators.

Verdict

Insufficient data
There is only one recorded assignment for this patent, which is a security agreement dated 2026-01-11 (executed) / 2026-01-12 (recorded), Reel 061266/0126. This transaction represents a financing arrangement where the patent serves as collateral, rather than an outright transfer of ownership for assertion purposes, and therefore does not exhibit any of the typical NPE/troll-pattern signals.

USPTO Assignment Center search page: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/ (search for patent number 12569491)