Assignment history

Inventors

• Brian A Blakley: Employer at the time of filing is not determinable from the provided patent text or associated information. The patent lists him as the inventor, but no employer is specified.

Original assignee

The original assignee named on the issued patent US12578159 is ABC IP LLC. It is unclear from the provided information whether ABC IP LLC ships a product embodying the claims or its primary line of business. The current status of ABC IP LLC is "Active," as indicated in the patent's legal status section.

Assignment timeline

As of May 31, 2026, a search of the USPTO Assignment Center for patent US12578159 reveals no recorded assignments for this patent. This typically means the original assignee, ABC IP LLC, still holds ownership of the patent.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 12578159
    2022 : Priority date 2022-09-08
    2024 : Filed by ABC IP LLC
    2026 : Issued to ABC IP LLC
         : Litigation initiated

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — Not present. The patent is currently held by the original assignee, ABC IP LLC, and no transfers to entities with names suggesting shell operations have been recorded.
2. Known asserter in the chain — Unclear. While ABC IP LLC is a plaintiff in active litigation concerning this patent, it is not explicitly listed on the commonly cited public NPE lists (Acacia Research Corp, Marathon Patent Group, etc.) within the provided information. However, the litigation summary indicates they are involved in "numerous infringement suits across various jurisdictions," which is characteristic of an NPE.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Not present. Since there are no recorded assignments, there is no chain of correspondents to analyze for recurrence.
4. Cascading transfers — Not present. No assignments have been recorded.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — Not present. No assignments have been recorded prior to the initiation of litigation in January 2026.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. No information suggests the original assignee has filed for bankruptcy or that the patent was sold in such proceedings.
7. Privateering — Unclear. Without more information on ABC IP LLC's relationship with other operating companies or details from SEC filings, it's unclear if this is a privateering arrangement.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The patent has not been acquired by a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — moderate confidence. While there are no recorded assignments to explicitly named shell entities or known high-frequency NPEs in the USPTO Assignment Center, the ongoing and numerous infringement lawsuits initiated by ABC IP LLC, as detailed in the litigation summary, strongly suggest that ABC IP LLC operates as a patent asserting entity. This pattern of extensive litigation is a key characteristic of a Non-Practicing Entity (NPE). [cite: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/]