Patent 8494904

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. 2012-08-14 · reel 028828/0571 · Assignment

    Shkedi, RoyAlmondnet, Inc.

    Correspondent: Jordan S. Weinstein · Oblon, Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt

    internal reorg

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 inventor listed on US patent 8,494,904 is Roy Shkedi. At the time of the original application filing, Mr. Shkedi was the founder and CEO of the original assignee, Almondnet Inc. There are no unusual patterns, as the inventor was the principal of the assignee company.

Original assignee

The original assignee named on the issued patent is Almondnet Inc., a technology company founded by the inventor, Roy Shkedi. Almondnet operated in the online advertising technology space, developing platforms for ad targeting and data exchange. It appears to have been an operating company that developed and commercialized technology related to the patent's claims. Almondnet and its related entities (Datonics LLC, Intent IQ LLC) continue to operate and are active litigants.

Assignment timeline

A search of the USPTO Patent Assignment Center reveals no recorded assignments for this patent after its initial assignment to Almondnet Inc. at the time of filing. The original assignment from the inventor to the company was recorded on August 14, 2012.

  • 2012-08-14 (executed) / recorded 2012-08-14 — Reel 028828/0571
    • Conveyance: Assignment of Assignor's Interest
    • Assignor: Shkedi, Roy
    • Assignee: Almondnet, Inc.
    • Correspondent: Jordan S. Weinstein, Oblon, Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt, L.L.P., 1940 Duke Street, Alexandria, VA 22314
    • Context: Standard assignment from the inventor to his company upon filing the patent application.

As there are no subsequent recorded transfers, Almondnet Inc. appears to have remained the owner of record throughout the patent's life and its extensive litigation history.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 8494904
    1999 : Priority Date
    2012 : Filed by Almondnet Inc
    2013 : Issued
    2016 : First infringement suit filed
    2019 : Patent expires

NPE / troll-pattern signals

Based on the assignment record and public information about the assignee.

  1. Shell-entity transfer — not present. There are no recorded transfers from the original assignee, Almondnet Inc., to any other entity.

  2. Known asserter in the chain — present. While there is no transfer to a known asserter, the original assignee, Almondnet Inc., is itself a high-frequency plaintiff. Unified Patents lists Almondnet and its associated entities (Intent IQ, Datonics) as frequent litigants in the ad tech space. The provided litigation history confirms numerous lawsuits filed by Almondnet asserting this and related patents.

  3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — not present. There is only a single assignment record, so no pattern can be established.

  4. Cascading transfers — not present. There are no recorded post-issuance assignments.

  5. Pre-litigation transfer — not present. There are no recorded assignments preceding the litigation campaigns. Almondnet Inc., the original assignee, initiated the lawsuits.

  6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. Almondnet Inc. has remained an operating entity and did not undergo bankruptcy proceedings that resulted in a sale of its patents.

  7. Privateering — unclear. Almondnet Inc. appears to be asserting its own patents. While it is an operating company, its business model heavily involves patent licensing and assertion. This blurs the line, but it does not fit the classic privateering model of an operating company transferring patents to a third-party NPE to sue on its behalf.

  8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The patent has not been transferred to any defensive aggregator.

Verdict

Operating-company assertion

Almondnet Inc., the original assignee and an active company in the ad-tech sector, has retained ownership of US patent 8,494,904 and has been the primary plaintiff in all related litigation. While the company's litigation activity is extensive, the facts do not support a classification as an NPE under the standard definition, as there is no evidence of the patent being transferred to a shell entity for the sole purpose of assertion. The assertion campaign is being waged by the original inventor's operating company.

Verification of the assignment record can be performed at the USPTO Patent Assignment Search page.

Generated 5/10/2026, 11:18:09 PM