US 11374215

Here's a concise summary of US patent 11374215:

US Patent 11374215

• Title: Scaffolding matrix with internal nanoparticles
• Assignee: Sila Nanotechnologies Inc.
• Inventors: Gleb Yushin, Bogdan Zdyrko, Addison Shelton, Eugene Berdichevsky, Igor Luzinov, Alexander Jacobs, Eerik Hantsoo, George Gomes.
• Filing Date: February 9, 2022.
• Issue Date: June 28, 2022.
• Abstract: A battery electrode composition is provided that includes composite particles. Each composite particle contains an active material and a scaffolding matrix. The active material stores and releases ions during battery operation, which causes a significant change in its volume. The scaffolding matrix is porous and electrically conductive, housing the active material. It is designed to structurally support the active material, ensure electrical connectivity, and accommodate these volume changes.

Plain-Language Overview of Independent Claims:

• Independent Claim 1 (Composition Claim): This claim describes a battery electrode composition made of composite particles. Each particle consists of silicon (the active material) that stores and releases ions, leading to substantial volume changes. This silicon is embedded within a porous, electrically-conductive scaffolding matrix. The key feature is that these composite particles can handle active material volume changes during battery operation that are more than 100% greater than any corresponding volume change in the scaffolding matrix. The scaffolding matrix provides structural support, electrical connection, and accommodates these volume changes.

• Independent Claim 11 (Method Claim): This claim outlines a method for manufacturing the battery electrode composition described in Claim 1. It involves providing silicon as the active material, which experiences significant volume changes during ion storage and release. The method then details forming a porous, electrically-conductive scaffolding matrix around this silicon. Similar to the composition claim, the method specifies that the resulting composite particles are capable of accommodating active material volume changes that are over 100% greater than the scaffolding matrix's own volume changes, with the matrix supporting the active material and maintaining electrical connections.

CAFC 2026 Dockets:
As of April 26, 2026, a search for US patent 11374215 within CAFC 2026 dockets did not yield specific results indicating active litigation. The available search tools do not provide direct access to searchable CAFC dockets by patent number for a specific year, making it challenging to definitively confirm or deny the existence of such dockets through automated searching.

As of April 26, 2026, there is no known litigation involving US patent 11374215. A search of publicly available litigation databases, including Unified Patents' portal, for this specific patent number did not yield any results. While PACER is a valuable resource for federal court records, direct searches by patent number for specific litigation within PACER were not feasible given the tool's limitations in this context. The provided search results regarding PACER primarily concern a class action settlement related to its fees, rather than specific patent litigation.

Proceedings overview

There are no AIA trial proceedings on file for US patent 11374215.

Strategic summary

As there are no AIA trial proceedings on file for US patent 11374215, all claims of the patent remain untested at the PTAB. This means there is no estoppel landscape established by prior PTAB decisions, and all prior-art grounds remain available for potential future challenges.

Recommended next steps

Since no PTAB activity exists for US patent 11374215, a potential defendant facing assertion of this patent would have all options open for challenging its validity at the PTAB. The absence of PTAB challenges could suggest that the patent has not been extensively asserted, or that prior assertions have been resolved without the need for PTAB proceedings.

Inventors

• Gleb Yushin: Sila Nanotechnologies Inc.
• Bogdan Zdyrko: Sila Nanotechnologies Inc.
• Addison Shelton: Sila Nanotechnologies Inc.
• Eugene Berdichevsky: Sila Nanotechnologies Inc.
• Igor Luzinov: Sila Nanotechnologies Inc.
• Alexander Jacobs: Sila Nanotechnologies Inc.
• Eerik Hantsoo: Sila Nanotechnologies Inc.
• George Gomes: Sila Nanotechnologies Inc.

All named inventors were associated with Sila Nanotechnologies Inc. at the time of the initial assignment, which occurred on the same day as the patent's filing in 2022.

Original assignee

The original assignee, and current owner, is Sila Nanotechnologies Inc. The company's primary line of business is the development and manufacturing of silicon-anode materials for lithium-ion batteries, aiming to increase energy density for applications such as electric vehicles and consumer electronics. Sila Nanotechnologies Inc. has shipped products embodying aspects of their claims, with their silicon anode material being used in the Whoop 4.0 fitness tracker starting in 2021, and announced for future Mercedes-Benz electric vehicles. Sila Nanotechnologies Inc. is currently an operating company.

Assignment timeline

• 2022-02-09 (executed) / recorded 2022-06-02 — Reel 058869/0147
  • Conveyance: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST
  • Assignor: JACOBS, ALEX; YUSHIN, GLEB; HANTSOO, EERIK; SHELTON, ADDISON; BERDICHEVSKY, GENE; ZDYRKO, BOGDAN; LUZINOV, IGOR; GOMES, GEORGE
  • Assignee: SILA NANOTECHNOLOGIES, INC.
  • Correspondent: MARINA GRINBLAT; LEYDIG, VOIT & MAYER, LTD.; TWO PRUDENTIAL PLAZA, SUITE 4900; 180 NORTH STETSON AVENUE; CHICAGO, IL 60601-6731
  • Context: Initial assignment from the inventors to the employer (original assignee).

The USPTO Patent Assignment Search at https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/ shows only one assignment record for US11374215, which is the initial transfer from the inventors to Sila Nanotechnologies Inc. There are no other recorded assignments post-issuance.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 11374215
    2022 : Filed by Sila Nanotechnologies Inc
         : Inventors assigned to Sila Nanotechnologies Inc
    2022 : Issued to Sila Nanotechnologies Inc

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — not present. The patent was assigned directly from the inventors to Sila Nanotechnologies Inc., an operating company. There is no evidence of transfer to a licensing-only LLC.
2. Known asserter in the chain — not present. Sila Nanotechnologies Inc. is not identified as a known NPE.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — unclear. Only one assignment is recorded, so there is no recurrence within this chain. Without further data on other patents handled by Marina Grinblat or Leydig, Voit & Mayer, Ltd., it's not possible to determine if they are a repeat correspondent for known NPEs.
4. Cascading transfers — not present. There is only one assignment on record.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — not present. No litigation has been identified for this patent, and no transfers occurred prior to any suits.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. Sila Nanotechnologies Inc. is an active operating company.
7. Privateering — not present. No evidence of transfer to an NPE to assert on behalf of an operating company.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The patent remains with the original operating assignee.

Verdict

Insufficient data. Only the initial assignment from inventors to the original assignee, Sila Nanotechnologies Inc., is recorded (Reel 058869/0147, executed 2022-02-09). There are no subsequent transfers to indicate any NPE or defensive aggregator involvement. Sila Nanotechnologies Inc. is an operating company that produces products related to the patent.

Verification link: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/assign-view-result?qid=1103239&pub_nbr=US11374215B2&db=us_pat

To identify the most relevant prior art for US patent 11374215, I will access the USPTO database and examine the patent citations.

Here's the most relevant prior art for US patent 11374215, based on the citations within the patent document:

I am unable to directly access and parse the full list of "References Cited" from the USPTO database in real-time within this environment. However, the patent text itself provides a "CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS" section that explicitly lists priority claims, which are crucial for understanding the patent's lineage and its relationship to earlier art. These related applications often contain the foundational work and thus represent highly relevant prior art.

Based on the provided patent text, the following related applications are cited:

1. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/353,364

   • Full Citation: U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/353,364, entitled “Scaffolding Matrix with Internal Nanoparticles”
   • Publication/Filing Date: Filed on June 21, 2021.
   • Brief Description: This is a Continuation of which US11374215 is a continuation. It describes a scaffolding matrix with internal nanoparticles, likely encompassing similar concepts to the granted patent.
   • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This application, being a direct continuation, would likely disclose subject matter that could anticipate many, if not all, of the claims of US11374215, particularly Claim 1 and Claim 11, if the scope of the claims in 17/353,364 is substantially similar. It acts as prior art due to its earlier filing date, subject to any intervening prior art events or changes in the claims during prosecution.

2. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/419,806

   • Full Citation: U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/419,806 entitled “Scaffolding Matrix with Internal Nanoparticles”
   • Publication/Filing Date: Filed on May 22, 2019.
   • Brief Description: This is a Continuation of which 17/353,364 is a continuation. It details a scaffolding matrix with internal nanoparticles, building upon even earlier work.
   • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): Similar to the 17/353,364 application, this earlier continuation would likely anticipate a significant portion of US11374215's claims if the disclosed subject matter is similar. Claim 1 and Claim 11 would be particularly susceptible to anticipation by this earlier filing.

3. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/973,943

   • Full Citation: U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/973,943 entitled “Scaffolding Matrix with Internal Nanoparticles”
   • Publication/Filing Date: Filed on August 22, 2013.
   • Brief Description: This is a Continuation of which 16/419,806 is a continuation. This represents an even earlier stage in the patent family, describing the core invention of a scaffolding matrix with internal nanoparticles.
   • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This application is highly relevant as a foundational document. It is very likely to anticipate the fundamental aspects of Claim 1 and Claim 11 of US11374215, given its title and its position in the priority chain.

4. Provisional Application No. 61/693,070

   • Full Citation: Provisional Application No. 61/693,070 entitled “Scaffolding Matrix with Internal Nanoparticles”
   • Publication/Filing Date: Filed on August 24, 2012.
   • Brief Description: This is the earliest priority document in the chain. Provisional applications provide an early filing date for an invention and usually contain a detailed description of the core concepts.
   • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): As the earliest document establishing priority, this provisional application is the most critical piece of prior art from this family. It would be expected to fully anticipate the core invention as claimed in US11374215, especially Claim 1 (composition) and Claim 11 (method of fabrication), assuming the disclosed subject matter aligns with the independent claims. The claims of US11374215 must be novel over the disclosure of this provisional application.

These related applications are the most direct and relevant prior art because US11374215 claims priority through them, meaning the content of these earlier applications is generally considered prior art against the claims of the later-filed patent. The claims of US11374215 must distinguish themselves from the disclosures within these prior applications to be considered novel.

I cannot perform a detailed obviousness analysis of US patent 11374215 under 35 U.S.C. § 103, as the provided patent text does not include a "Prior Art" section listing specific prior art references. While "Prior art keywords" (active material, particle, scaffolding matrix, electrode composition, battery) and a "Prior art date" (2012-08-24) are listed, these do not constitute specific references that can be combined to assess obviousness.

To conduct an obviousness analysis, I would need a list of specific prior art documents (e.g., other patents, publications) to identify their disclosures and then explain:

1. How the elements of the claims of US11374215 are found in these prior art references.
2. Why a person having ordinary skill in the art (POSITA) would have been motivated to combine these references, with a reasonable expectation of success, to arrive at the claimed invention.

Without specific prior art references, I am unable to identify combinations or articulate motivations to combine them.