Patent 10274325

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 (2)

Asserters network →

Structured records extracted from the assignment-history narrative below. Each entity links to its full ownership-network profile.

2016-11-01 · recorded 2017-05-02 · reel 039912/0930 · ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
ROMBOUTS, JALDERT; GABARDOS, BORJA IBARZ; PASSOT, JEAN-BAPTISTE; SMITH, ANDREW BRAIN CORPORATION
Correspondent: · PILLSBURY WINTHROP SHAW PITTMAN
Original assignment of patent rights from the inventors to the initial corporate entity
2021-10-08 · recorded 2021-10-18 · reel 052445/0352 · SECURITY INTEREST
BRAIN CORPORATION HERCULES CAPITAL, INC.
Correspondent: · ARMSTRONG TEASDALE
Granting of a security interest in the patent by Brain Corporation to Hercules Capital, Inc., typically as part of a lending agreement

Assignment history

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Inventors

Jaldert Rombouts: Employed by Brain Corp at the time of filing.
Borja Ibarz Gabardos: Employed by Brain Corp at the time of filing.
Jean-Baptiste Passot: Employed by Brain Corp at the time of filing.
Andrew Smith: Employed by Brain Corp at the time of filing.

No unusual patterns regarding inventor departures are determinable from the provided information.

Original assignee

The original assignee, as named on the issued patent, is Brain Corp.

Brain Corp is an operating company whose primary line of business involves developing artificial intelligence and robotic operating systems for autonomous mobile robots, particularly for commercial floor care machines, autonomous vehicles, and other navigating robots. The patent explicitly describes applications for "robotic floor cleaner[s], such as a robotic floor scrubber, vacuums, steamers, buffers, mop, polishers, sweepers, burnishers, and the like" [cite: "Definitions" section, "floor cleaners" definition, and "Detailed Description" section]. This indicates that Brain Corp ships products embodying the claims.

Brain Corp is currently an active, operating company. [cite: The legal status for US10274325B2 on Google Patents states "Active"]

Assignment timeline

2016-11-01 (executed) / recorded 2017-05-02 — Reel 039912/0930
- Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
- Assignor: ROMBOUTS, JALDERT; GABARDOS, BORJA IBARZ; PASSOT, JEAN-BAPTISTE; SMITH, ANDREW
- Assignee: BRAIN CORPORATION
- Correspondent: PILLSBURY WINTHROP SHAW PITTMAN LLP, P.O. BOX 10500, MCLEAN, VA, 22102.
- Context: Original assignment of patent rights from the inventors to the initial corporate entity.
2021-10-08 (executed) / recorded 2021-10-18 — Reel 052445/0352
- Conveyance: SECURITY INTEREST
- Assignor: BRAIN CORPORATION
- Assignee: HERCULES CAPITAL, INC.
- Correspondent: ARMSTRONG TEASDALE LLP, 7700 Forsyth Boulevard Suite 1800, St. Louis, MO, 63105.
- Context: Granting of a security interest in the patent by Brain Corporation to Hercules Capital, Inc., typically as part of a lending agreement.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 10274325
    2016 : Filed by Brain Corp
         : Inventors assigned to Brain Corp
    2019 : Issued
    2021 : Security interest granted to Hercules Capital

NPE / troll-pattern signals

Shell-entity transfer: Not present. The assignments are from inventors to an operating company (Brain Corp) and then a security interest to a lender (Hercules Capital, Inc.).
Known asserter in the chain: Not present. Neither Brain Corp nor Hercules Capital, Inc. are identified as known patent assertion entities (NPEs) in the provided lists.
Repeat correspondent across the chain: Not present. The two recorded events show different correspondent law firms (Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP and Armstrong Teasdale LLP).
Cascading transfers: Not present. There are only two transfers in the record, separated by several years, not multiple consecutive assignments within a short period.
Pre-litigation transfer: Not present. The IPR case IPR2025-01602 was filed in 2025. The most recent recorded conveyance (security interest) was in October 2021, which is more than six months prior to the IPR filing.
Bankruptcy fire-sale: Not present. There is no indication that any of the transfers occurred due to bankruptcy proceedings.
Privateering: Not present. There is no evidence in the provided information or public records to suggest a privateering arrangement.
Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE): Not present in the ownership chain. The patent is not owned by a defensive aggregator. (Note: Unified Patents filed an IPR against the patent, indicating a defensive action against the patent, not ownership by a defensive aggregator).

Verdict

Operating-company assertion

This verdict is based on the patent's consistent ownership by Brain Corp, an active operating company developing and deploying robotic systems that embody the patent's claims. The only other recorded transaction is a security interest granted to a capital firm, which is a common financial arrangement for operating companies, not a signal of patent assertion by a shell entity.

For verification, see the USPTO Patent Assignment Search results for US10274325.

Generated 5/27/2026, 12:48:33 PM