Assignment history

Inventors

• Angel A. Penilla, San Jose, CA (US)
• Albert S. Penilla, San Jose, CA (US)

The patent application was filed on the same day it was assigned by the inventors to Emerging Automotive LLC. This suggests the inventors' primary role was the creation of intellectual property for this entity, rather than for an operating company they were employed by.

Original assignee

The assignee on the face of the issued patent is Emerging Automotive LLC, a Texas limited liability company. Public records and litigation history indicate that this entity does not manufacture or sell vehicles or cloud systems. Its primary activity appears to be patent assertion. The patent family to which US 11,104,245 belongs has been asserted in litigation against major automotive and technology companies.

Assignment timeline

A search of the USPTO Patent Assignment Database for US Patent 11,104,245 reveals a single recorded assignment.

• 2019-10-15 (executed) / recorded 2019-10-16 — Reel 052446/0177
  • Conveyance: Assignment of Assignor's Interest
  • Assignor: Angel A. Penilla; Albert S. Penilla
  • Assignee: Emerging Automotive LLC
  • Correspondent: Raj Abhyanker, Raj Abhyanker, P.C., 1580 W. El Camino Real, Ste 8, Mountain View, CA 94040. This correspondent is frequently associated with patent assertion entities.
  • Context: This assignment appears to be a transfer from the inventors to a newly formed entity for the purpose of holding and asserting the patent.

Verification Link: USPTO Assignment Search for Pat. No. 11,104,245

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 11104245
    2012 : Priority date from parent application
    2019 : Application filed
         : Assigned to Emerging Automotive LLC
    2021 : Patent granted
    2025 : Litigation filed in E.D. Texas
    2026 : PTAB IPR proceeding instituted

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — Present. The patent was assigned by the inventors to Emerging Automotive LLC on the same day the application was filed (Reel 052446/0177, executed 2019-10-15). This entity does not appear to be an operating company with products, fitting the profile of a special-purpose entity created for patent licensing and assertion.

2. Known asserter in the chain — Present. The assignee, Emerging Automotive LLC, is documented as a patent assertion entity by industry trackers such as Unified Patents. The Google Patents page for US 11,104,245 lists litigation filed by this entity in the Eastern District of Texas (2:25-cv-00799, 2:25-cv-00782), a venue historically favored by patent assertion entities.

3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Present. The correspondent of record for the sole assignment is Raj Abhyanker of Raj Abhyanker, P.C. (Reel 052446/0177). Mr. Abhyanker and his firm have a well-documented history of representing non-practicing entities (NPEs) in patent acquisition and assertion campaigns. His presence is a strong indicator of assertion-focused activity.

4. Cascading transfers — Not present. The assignment record shows only a single transfer from the inventors to the current assignee.

5. Pre-litigation transfer — Not present. The assignment was recorded years before the litigation noted in 2025. However, the initial assignment was to a non-operating entity, indicating that the structure for future assertion was established at the time of filing.

6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. There is no evidence that this patent originated from a bankrupt operating company.

7. Privateering — Not present. The patent was developed by and assigned from the named inventors to their own entity, not from a larger operating company to a third-party asserter.

8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The patent is held by an assertion entity, not a defensive organization.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence

The evidence strongly supports the conclusion that this patent is held by a non-practicing entity (NPE) for assertion purposes. The assignee, Emerging Automotive LLC, is a known patent asserter with no evidence of commercial products (Signal 2). The patent was transferred from the inventors to this LLC on the day of filing (Reel 052446/0177), a classic shell-entity formation pattern (Signal 1). Furthermore, the legal correspondent for the assignment is an attorney well-known for representing NPEs (Signal 3).