Assignment history

Inventors

• Masayuki Hirabayashi
• Yasunobu Hashimoto
• Kazuhiko Yoshizawa

The inventors' employer at the time of filing is implicitly Maxell Ltd., the original assignee. No unusual patterns, such as all inventors departing within 12 months of filing, are indicated in the provided patent text.

Original assignee

The original assignee named on the issued patent is Maxell Ltd.. Maxell Ltd. is a publicly traded Japanese company primarily known for manufacturing batteries, optical media (such as CDs and DVDs), and various functional materials. The patent describes an "information processing device" which can be a "wristwatch-type handheld device," "glasses-type handheld device," "ring-type handheld device," "smart phone," or "personal computer (PC)". Given Maxell's involvement in consumer electronics components and devices, it is plausible they ship products embodying the claims related to biometric authentication for application startup on such devices. Maxell Ltd. is currently an active, operating company.

Assignment timeline

A direct search of the USPTO Patent Assignment Search (https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/) was not performed. Based on the "Legal status" section of the provided Google Patents data for US10783228, the following assignment-related events are noted. However, specific reel/frame numbers and correspondent information, which are typically exposed by a direct USPTO Assignment Center search, are not available from this source.

• 2021-11-29 (event date) / recorded N/A (not specified, implied same as event) — Reel N/A
  • Conveyance: Reassignment (MERGER)
  • Assignor: MAXELL, LTD.
  • Assignee: MAXELL HOLDINGS, LTD.
  • Correspondent: N/A (Information not available from source)
  • Context: Internal corporate restructuring (merger)
• 2021-12-03 (event date) / recorded N/A (not specified, implied same as event) — Reel N/A
  • Conveyance: Reassignment (CHANGE OF NAME)
  • Assignor: MAXELL HOLDINGS, LTD.
  • Assignee: MAXELL, LTD.
  • Correspondent: N/A (Information not available from source)
  • Context: Internal corporate restructuring (change of name)

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 10783228
    2019 : Filed by Maxell Ltd
    2020 : Granted to Maxell Ltd
    2021 : Assigned to Maxell Holdings
         : Assigned to Maxell Ltd
    2025 : PTAB case IPR2025-01313 filed
         : EDTX litigation 5:25-cv-00052 filed

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — not present. The assignments are between Maxell Ltd. and Maxell Holdings, which appear to be related corporate entities involved in a merger and name change. There is no indication of transfers to anonymous shell entities, registered-agent addresses, or single-purpose LLCs from the available information.
2. Known asserter in the chain — not present. Maxell Ltd. is an operating company. While Unified Patents has filed a PTAB case (IPR2025-01313) against this patent, Unified Patents is challenging the patent, not asserting it as an owner or licensee. No other known NPEs are identified as assignees in the chain.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — unclear. Correspondent information (attorney name, firm, address) is not available from the provided Google Patents data for any of the assignment events. Therefore, it is not possible to assess if the same correspondent recurs.
4. Cascading transfers — not present. Although there are two transfers within a short period (four days in 2021), they represent an internal corporate merger and subsequent change of name for the original assignee, Maxell Ltd.. This indicates internal corporate restructuring rather than rapid transfers between unrelated entities typical of cascading transfers for assertion purposes.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — not present. The recorded assignments occurred in late 2021. The identified litigation events (PTAB case IPR2025-01313 and a US district court case 5:25-cv-00052 in EDTX) were both filed in 2025. This timeframe (over three years) is significantly longer than the typical 6-month window indicating pre-litigation transfers.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. Maxell Ltd. is an active, operating company. There is no information in the provided data to suggest a bankruptcy filing or a fire-sale of patents.
7. Privateering — not present. No evidence in the provided data suggests that Maxell Ltd. transferred the patent to an NPE to assert on its behalf against competitors.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The patent remains with Maxell Ltd.. Unified Patents is listed as a petitioner in a PTAB case challenging the patent, not as an assignee or a defensive aggregator holding the patent.

Verdict

Operating-company assertion

The patent US10783228 remains with Maxell Ltd., an operating company that manufactures products consistent with the technology described in the patent. The assignment history consists of internal corporate restructuring (merger and name change), rather than transfers to shell entities or known NPEs. While there is ongoing litigation related to the patent, the ownership chain does not exhibit patterns typically associated with NPE assertion.

For verification of assignment records, please refer to the USPTO Patent Assignment Search page: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/patents/[10783228](/patent/10783228)