Assignment history

Inventors

• Adam L. Kesner (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center)

Original assignee

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center is a prominent cancer treatment and research institution. They are an operating entity focused on medical care and scientific discovery. Their primary line of business is healthcare and medical research, and they are currently operating. While they are a research institution, the direct "shipping of a product embodying the claims" in the traditional commercial sense is not their primary function; rather, the invention would likely be integrated into their clinical imaging and diagnostic processes.

Assignment timeline

• 2016-10-05 (executed) / recorded 2016-10-10 — Reel 039975/0193

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: KESNER, ADAM
  • Assignee: SITKO, JOHN
  • Correspondent: MCDERMOTT WILL & EMERY LLP, 500 NORTH CAPITAL STREET, N.W., WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 20001
  • Context: Inventor to individual transfer

• 2016-10-05 (executed) / recorded 2016-10-10 — Reel 039975/0226

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: SITKO, JOHN
  • Assignee: KESNER, ADAM
  • Correspondent: MCDERMOTT WILL & EMERY LLP, 500 NORTH CAPITAL STREET, N.W., WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 20001. This correspondent recurs in this chain.
  • Context: Individual to inventor transfer

• 2017-05-30 (executed) / recorded 2017-05-30 — Reel 042532/0318

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: KESNER, ADAM
  • Assignee: MEMORIAL SLOAN KETTERING CANCER CENTER
  • Correspondent: MCDERMOTT WILL & EMERY LLP, 500 NORTH CAPITAL STREET, NW, WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 20001. This correspondent recurs in this chain.
  • Context: Inventor to original assignee transfer

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 9814431
    2008 : Filed by Memorial Sloan Kettering
    2016 : Inventor Kesner to Sitko
         : Sitko to Inventor Kesner
    2017 : Inventor Kesner to MSKCC
    2017 : Issued to MSKCC

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — not present. The transfers involve individuals and the original operating entity (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center).
2. Known asserter in the chain — not present. None of the named assignees or assignors are identified as known NPEs.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — present. MCDERMOTT WILL & EMERY LLP appears as the correspondent for all three recorded assignments (Reel 039975/0193, Reel 039975/0226, and Reel 042532/0318).
4. Cascading transfers — not present. While there are two transfers on the same day in 2016, they represent a circular transfer between an inventor and another individual, rather than a chain of transfers through multiple LLCs.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — not present. No litigation has been identified, and the latest assignment to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center occurred five months before the patent issued.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center is an active, operating institution.
7. Privateering — not present. No evidence suggests a privateering arrangement.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The patent remains with the original operating/research institution.

Verdict

Insufficient data. While there is a repeat correspondent, this alone is not enough to confidently label Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center as an NPE or suggest a troll pattern. The assignments show a transfer from an inventor to an individual and then back to the inventor, followed by a transfer from the inventor back to the original assignee, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, which is an operating entity.

USPTO Assignment Center search page: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/