Assignment history

Inventors

• Yehuda Binder (May Patents Ltd.)
• Benjamin Maytal (May Patents Ltd.)

It is generally presumed that inventors assign their patent rights to their employer, especially if they were hired to invent or if an invention assignment agreement is in place.

Original assignee

The original assignee on the issued patent US11128710B2 is May Patents Ltd. May Patents Ltd. is involved in inventing, developing, manufacturing, and commercializing inventions, holding a total of 180 patents. Their primary line of business appears to be intellectual property development and commercialization. Their current status is operating.

Assignment timeline

• 2017-07-23 (executed) / recorded 2017-07-23 — Reel 040985/0500
  • Conveyance: Assignment of Assignors Interest
  • Assignor: BINDER, YEHUDA; MAYTAL, BENJAMIN
  • Assignee: MAY PATENTS LTD.
  • Correspondent: E. Michael Donegan, Dardi & Herbert PLLC, 10700 Bren Rd W Ste 145, Minnetonka, MN, 55343
  • Context: Original assignment from inventors to May Patents Ltd.
• 2025-05-29 (executed) / recorded 2025-05-29 — Reel 071256/0346
  • Conveyance: Assignment of Assignors Interest
  • Assignor: MAY PATENTS LTD.
  • Assignee: SMART SPEAKER LLC
  • Correspondent: Peter Lambrianakos, FABRICANT LLP, 200 Park Avenue, 17th Floor, New York, NY, 10166. This correspondent also appears on reel 071256/0348.
  • Context: Transfer to asserter.
• 2025-06-02 (executed) / recorded 2025-06-02 — Reel 071256/0348
  • Conveyance: Corrective Assignment
  • Assignor: MAY PATENTS LTD.
  • Assignee: SMART SPEAKER LLC
  • Correspondent: Peter Lambrianakos, FABRICANT LLP, 200 Park Avenue, 17th Floor, New York, NY, 10166. This correspondent also appears on reel 071256/0346.
  • Context: Corrective assignment.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 11128710
    2017 : Assigned to May Patents Ltd from inventors
    2025 : Assigned to Smart Speaker LLC
         : Corrective Assignment to Smart Speaker LLC
    2025 : Litigation filed by Smart Speaker LLC

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — Present. The patent moved from May Patents Ltd., an entity that states it commercializes inventions, to Smart Speaker LLC. Smart Speaker LLC has initiated patent infringement litigation against Amazon.com Services LLC. This suggests Smart Speaker LLC is primarily a licensing/assertion entity, especially given its name.
2. Known asserter in the chain — Present. Smart Speaker LLC has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Amazon.com Services LLC, indicating its role as an asserting entity. RPX has also reported on Smart Speaker LLC's litigation activity.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Present. Peter Lambrianakos of Fabricant LLP is listed as the correspondent for both assignments to Smart Speaker LLC (Reel 071256/0346 and Reel 071256/0348).
4. Cascading transfers — Not present. There are two assignments to Smart Speaker LLC, but the second is a corrective assignment to the same entity. There are not multiple consecutive assignments through chained LLCs.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — Present. The assignment to Smart Speaker LLC was executed and recorded on May 29, 2025 (Reel 071256/0346). Smart Speaker LLC filed a patent infringement suit against Amazon.com Services LLC on July 11, 2025, which is within 6 months of the assignment. RPX also indicates that a "Licensing Letter" from May Patents concerning some of the patents was sent in July 2024, prior to the assignment to Smart Speaker LLC and subsequent lawsuit.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. There is no indication in the provided information or Google Patents that May Patents Ltd. filed for bankruptcy.
7. Privateering — Unclear. While May Patents Ltd. assigned the patent to Smart Speaker LLC, which then sued Amazon, there is no explicit information detailing an agreement where May Patents Ltd. is benefiting from Smart Speaker LLC's assertion on its behalf against competitors.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The chain ends with Smart Speaker LLC, which is an asserting entity.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence. The presence of a shell-entity transfer to Smart Speaker LLC, the identification of Smart Speaker LLC as a known asserter (as confirmed by litigation records and RPX reporting), the recurrence of the same correspondent attorney for both transfers to Smart Speaker LLC (Peter Lambrianakos of Fabricant LLP), and the pre-litigation timing of the transfer to Smart Speaker LLC all strongly indicate an NPE pattern. The patent was assigned to Smart Speaker LLC in May 2025, and a lawsuit was filed in July 2025.

USPTO Assignment Center search page: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/ (Search by patent number 11128710)