Patent 8026378

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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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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Inventors

The sole named inventor is Sergey Selifonov. At the time of filing, he was associated with Segetis Inc., the original assignee. No unusual patterns, such as the inventor departing the original assignee within 12 months of filing, were identified.

Original assignee

The original assignee on the issued patent is Segetis Inc.

  • Product/Business: Segetis Inc. was involved in the development and commercialization of bio-based chemicals. Specifically, the patent describes glyceryl ether compounds as renewable biomass-based surfactants useful as detergents and emulsifiers in various formulations (cleaning, laundry, personal care, cosmetics, industrial uses).
  • Current Status: Segetis Inc. was acquired by GFBIOCHEMICALS LIMITED, as evidenced by the assignment recorded on 2016-04-07.

Assignment timeline

  • 2008-10-28 (executed) / recorded 2009-01-28 — Reel 022168/0071

    • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT
    • Assignor: SELIFONOV, SERGEY
    • Assignee: AROMAGEN CORPORATION
    • Correspondent: Robert S. Haffner, Fish & Richardson P.C., 60 South Sixth Street, Suite 3200, Minneapolis, MN, 55402. This correspondent appears on multiple records in this chain.
    • Context: Inventor assigning rights to an initial corporate entity.

  • 2008-10-28 (executed) / recorded 2009-01-28 — Reel 022168/0109

    • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT
    • Assignor: AROMAGEN CORPORATION
    • Assignee: SEGETIS, INC.
    • Correspondent: Robert S. Haffner, Fish & Richardson P.C., 60 South Sixth Street, Suite 3200, Minneapolis, MN, 55402. This correspondent appears on multiple records in this chain.
    • Context: Transfer of rights from an initial corporate entity to the original operating assignee.

  • 2016-02-05 (executed) / recorded 2016-04-07 — Reel 038373/0362

    • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT
    • Assignor: SEGETIS, INC.
    • Assignee: GFBIOCHEMICALS LIMITED
    • Correspondent: Michael T. Hendershot, Dorsey & Whitney LLP, 50 South Sixth Street, Suite 1500, Minneapolis, MN, 55402.
    • Context: Acquisition of patent portfolio, indicating Segetis Inc. was acquired by GFBIOCHEMICALS LIMITED.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 8026378
    2006 : Patent filed by Segetis Inc
    2008 : Inventor to Aromagen Corp
         : Aromagen to Segetis Inc
    2011 : Patent issued
    2016 : Segetis to GF Biochemicals Ltd

NPE / troll-pattern signals

  1. Shell-entity transfer — Unclear. While Aromagen Corporation acted as an intermediary, there is no definitive evidence that it was a shell entity for licensing-only purposes. The final assignee, GFBIOCHEMICALS LIMITED, is an operating company.
  2. Known asserter in the chain — Not present. None of the assignees (Sergey Selifonov, Aromagen Corporation, Segetis Inc., GFBIOCHEMICALS LIMITED) are recognized as known patent asserters or NPEs.
  3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Present. Robert S. Haffner of Fish & Richardson P.C. appears as the correspondent for both the assignment from SELIFONOV, SERGEY to AROMAGEN CORPORATION (Reel 022168/0071) and from AROMAGEN CORPORATION to SEGETIS, INC. (Reel 022168/0109).
  4. Cascading transfers — Present. Two consecutive assignments (Selifonov to Aromagen Corporation, then Aromagen Corporation to Segetis Inc.) were executed on the same date (2008-10-28) and recorded on the same date (2009-01-28), as shown in Reel 022168/0071 and Reel 022168/0109.
  5. Pre-litigation transfer — Not present. No litigation involving this patent has been identified.
  6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. There is no indication that any of the transfers were due to bankruptcy proceedings of the assignors.
  7. Privateering — Not present. No evidence suggests a privateering arrangement. The current assignee is an operating company.
  8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The chain ends with GFBIOCHEMICALS LIMITED, an operating company, not a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

Insufficient data

Although there are signals of cascading transfers (Reel 022168/0071 and 022168/0109) and a repeat correspondent (Robert S. Haffner for both early transfers), these transactions appear to consolidate ownership from the inventor to the original operating company, Segetis Inc. The subsequent transfer to GFBIOCHEMICALS LIMITED (Reel 038373/0362) represents an acquisition by another operating company. There is no evidence of shell entities used for assertion, known NPEs in the chain, or any litigation, thus precluding a verdict of NPE assertion.

Verification: USPTO Assignment Center search for US8026378

Generated 5/29/2026, 8:54:28 PM