Assignment history

Inventors

The named inventors for US Patent 10749443 are Daniel Martin, Brice Mcpherson, and Alexander Lostetter. At the time of filing, their employer was Cree Fayetteville Inc., the original assignee of the patent. No unusual patterns, such as all inventors departing within 12 months of filing, are evident from the provided information.

Original assignee

The original assignee listed on US Patent 10749443 is Cree Fayetteville Inc. This entity was engaged in the development and manufacturing of wide bandgap (WBG) power semiconductor devices and modules, particularly those utilizing Silicon Carbide (SiC) and Gallium Nitride (GaN) technologies. The claims of the patent, describing a high power multilayer module, are consistent with the products and technology focus of Cree Fayetteville Inc.

Cree Fayetteville Inc. later merged into Cree, Inc. On February 14, 2022, Cree, Inc. underwent a corporate name change to Wolfspeed, Inc. Therefore, Cree Fayetteville Inc. is no longer an independent operating entity, but its assets and operations have been subsumed by Wolfspeed, Inc., which is an active, operating company in the power semiconductor industry.

Assignment timeline

The following records were found directly on the USPTO Assignment Center (https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/) for patent number US10749443.

Contradiction Alert: The USPTO Assignment Center search results for US10749443 do not list the assignments from Cree Fayetteville Inc. to Cree, Inc. (executed August 13, 2021) or from Cree, Inc. to Wolfspeed, Inc. (executed February 14, 2022), nor a security interest from June 30, 2023. These earlier events were detailed in the previously generated "Patent Summary" and are reflected in Google Patents' legal events. In accordance with operating rules, the direct USPTO Assignment Center search results are prioritized as the primary source for this section. The full ownership chain, including these omitted events, is reflected in the Timeline Diagram below.

• 2025-09-30 (executed) / recorded 2025-09-30 — Reel 064185/0749
  • Conveyance: SECURITY INTEREST
  • Assignor: WOLFSPEED, INC.
  • Assignee: U.S. BANK TRUST COMPANY, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
  • Correspondent: MCGREGOR & ASSOCIATES, P.C., 201 N. TRYON STREET, SUITE 800, CHARLOTTE, NC 28202. This correspondent appears on multiple entries within this securitization chain.
  • Context: Securitization of intellectual property as collateral for a financial agreement.
• 2025-09-30 (executed) / recorded 2025-09-30 — Reel 064185/0751
  • Conveyance: SECURITY INTEREST
  • Assignor: WOLFSPEED, INC.
  • Assignee: U.S. BANK TRUST COMPANY, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
  • Correspondent: MCGREGOR & ASSOCIATES, P.C., 201 N. TRYON STREET, SUITE 800, CHARLOTTE, NC 28202. This correspondent appears on multiple entries within this securitization chain.
  • Context: Securitization of intellectual property as collateral for a financial agreement.
• 2025-09-30 (executed) / recorded 2025-09-30 — Reel 064185/0753
  • Conveyance: SECURITY INTEREST
  • Assignor: WOLFSPEED, INC.
  • Assignee: U.S. BANK TRUST COMPANY, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
  • Correspondent: MCGREGOR & ASSOCIATES, P.C., 201 N. TRYON STREET, SUITE 800, CHARLOTTE, NC 28202. This correspondent appears on multiple entries within this securitization chain.
  • Context: Securitization of intellectual property as collateral for a financial agreement.
• 2025-09-30 (executed) / recorded 2025-09-30 — Reel 064185/0755
  • Conveyance: SECURITY INTEREST
  • Assignor: WOLFSPEED, INC.
  • Assignee: U.S. BANK TRUST COMPANY, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
  • Correspondent: MCGREGOR & ASSOCIATES, P.C., 201 N. TRYON STREET, SUITE 800, CHARLOTTE, NC 28202. This correspondent appears on multiple entries within this securitization chain.
  • Context: Securitization of intellectual property as collateral for a financial agreement.
• 2025-09-30 (executed) / recorded 2025-09-30 — Reel 064185/0747
  • Conveyance: RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST IN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY COLLATERAL AT REEL/FRAME NO. 64185/0755
  • Assignor: U.S. BANK TRUST COMPANY, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
  • Assignee: WOLFSPEED, INC.
  • Correspondent: MCGREGOR & ASSOCIATES, P.C., 201 N. TRYON STREET, SUITE 800, CHARLOTTE, NC 28202. This correspondent appears on multiple entries within this securitization chain.
  • Context: Release of a previously recorded security interest by the collateral agent.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 10749443
    2019 : Filed by Cree Fayetteville Inc
    2020 : Issued
    2021 : Assigned to Cree Inc
    2022 : Assigned to Wolfspeed Inc (name change)
    2023 : Security interest to US Bank
    2025 : Security interest to US Bank
         : Release security interest by US Bank
    2026 : Wolfspeed sues Navitas

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — Not present. The assignors (Cree Fayetteville Inc., Cree Inc., Wolfspeed Inc.) are operating companies, and the assignee (U.S. Bank Trust Company, National Association, as Collateral Agent) is a financial institution involved in securitization, not a licensing-only shell entity.
2. Known asserter in the chain — Not present. Wolfspeed, Inc. is an operating company, not identified as a known NPE from the provided list. U.S. Bank Trust Company is a financial institution.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Unclear. MCGREGOR & ASSOCIATES, P.C. is listed as the correspondent for all five security interest and release filings on 2025-09-30 (Reel 064185/0747, 064185/0749, 064185/0751, 064185/0753, 064185/0755). While this shows recurrence within the financial transaction records, the primary USPTO Assignment Center search for this patent does not provide information about the correspondents for the earlier ownership assignments (Cree Fayetteville to Cree, Inc. and Cree, Inc. to Wolfspeed, Inc.). Therefore, it's unclear if this correspondent has handled the entire chain of assignments.
4. Cascading transfers — Not present. While there are multiple security interest filings on the same day in 2025, these represent a single financial event (securitization/refinancing) rather than a series of ownership transfers to multiple chained LLCs. The earlier corporate assignments (2021, 2022) were internal restructurings spread over more than 12 months.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — Not present. The most recent change in the operating owner (Wolfspeed, Inc. via name change) occurred on February 14, 2022. The litigation was filed on July 7, 2026. No ownership transfers occurred within six months prior to the litigation filing. The security interest events in 2025 are not ownership transfers for assertion purposes.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. There is no indication of bankruptcy for any of the operating companies in the chain.
7. Privateering — Not present. Wolfspeed, Inc. is directly asserting the patent against a competitor, without evidence of transferring it to an NPE to assert on their behalf.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The patent is held by an operating company that is asserting it, not a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

Operating-company assertion

The patent is currently held by Wolfspeed, Inc., an operating company that develops and manufactures power semiconductor devices. Wolfspeed is actively asserting this patent against Navitas Semiconductor, a direct competitor in the wide bandgap semiconductor market, as confirmed by the litigation filed on July 7, 2026. The assignments recorded on the USPTO Assignment Center are security interests granted to U.S. Bank Trust Company by Wolfspeed, Inc. on 2025-09-30 (Reel 064185/0749, 064185/0751, 064185/0753, 064185/0755), along with a corresponding release on the same date (Reel 064185/0747), which are typical for active businesses and do not indicate an NPE pattern.

USPTO Assignment Center search for US10749443: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/patents/10749443