Assignment history

Inventors

• Yehuda Binder: Employer at time of filing not explicitly stated in the patent document; however, he is also associated with "May Patents Ltd." as a correspondent for patent assignments.
• Benjamin Maytal: Employer at time of filing not explicitly stated in the patent document.

There is no information to suggest the inventors departed the original assignee within 12 months of filing. Yehuda Binder appears to maintain a close connection, acting as a correspondent for subsequent assignments involving May Patents Ltd. and Smart Speaker LLC.

Original assignee

The original assignee, as named on the application filing and the initial assignment from the inventors, is May Patents Ltd. [cite: The full patent text, under "Priority date", "Application filed by May Patents Ltd", and "Assigned to MAY PATENTS LTD."].

Based on the patent text and publicly available information, there is no indication that May Patents Ltd. directly shipped a product embodying the claims of US12010174B2. The name "May Patents Ltd." itself suggests a primary line of business focused on intellectual property rather than product manufacturing. May Patents Ltd. is no longer the current assignee for this patent, as it has been reassigned to Smart Speaker LLC. Its current operating status (operating, acquired, dissolved, in bankruptcy) is not determinable from the provided patent text or standard assignment searches alone.

Assignment timeline

• 2021-08-23 (executed) / recorded 2021-08-26 — Reel 056157/0947
  • Conveyance: Assignment of Assignors Interest
  • Assignor: BINDER, YEHUDA; MAYTAL, BENJAMIN
  • Assignee: MAY PATENTS LTD.
  • Correspondent: MAY PATENTS LTD. / P.O. BOX 1007 / KFAR-NETTER, 40593 / ISRAEL
  • Context: Initial assignment from inventors to the filing entity.
• 2025-05-29 (executed) / recorded 2025-06-05 — Reel 071256/0346
  • Conveyance: Assignment of Assignors Interest
  • Assignor: MAY PATENTS LTD.
  • Assignee: SMART SPEAKER LLC
  • Correspondent: BINDER, YEHUDA / MAY PATENTS LTD. / P.O. BOX 1007 / KFAR-NETTER, 40593 / ISRAEL. This correspondent recurs in this chain.
  • Context: Transfer of patent rights from the original assignee to a new entity.
• 2025-06-02 (executed) / recorded 2025-06-05 — Reel 071256/0349
  • Conveyance: Corrective Assignment
  • Assignor: MAY PATENTS LTD.
  • Assignee: SMART SPEAKER LLC
  • Correspondent: BINDER, YEHUDA / MAY PATENTS LTD. / P.O. BOX 1007 / KFAR-NETTER, 40593 / ISRAEL. This correspondent recurs in this chain.
  • Context: Corrective assignment to amend an incorrect property number in the previous record, confirming the transfer to Smart Speaker LLC.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 12010174
    2021 : Filed by May Patents Ltd
         : Inventors assigned to May Patents Ltd
    2024 : Patent issued
    2025 : May Patents assigned to Smart Speaker LLC
         : Corrective assignment to Smart Speaker LLC
         : US district court litigation filed
    2026 : PTAB IPR case filed

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — Present. The patent was transferred from May Patents Ltd. to Smart Speaker LLC. While "Smart Speaker LLC" names a product area, Smart Speaker LLC is listed as an asserter by Unified Patents. May Patents Ltd., given its name and lack of product information, also appears to be an IP holding entity. [cite: The full patent text, under "Legal status", and assignment records Reel 071256/0346, Reel 071256/0349]
2. Known asserter in the chain — Present. Smart Speaker LLC is the current assignee. Unified Patents lists Smart Speaker LLC as an asserter, and the patent document itself notes active litigation involving Smart Speaker LLC, including a PTAB case (IPR2026-00147) and a US District Court case (2:25-cv-00707) [cite: The full patent text, under "Legal status"].
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Present. The correspondent "MAY PATENTS LTD. / P.O. BOX 1007 / KFAR-NETTER, 40593 / ISRAEL" (and later "BINDER, YEHUDA / MAY PATENTS LTD.") appears on all recorded assignments for this patent, including the initial assignment from inventors and the transfer to Smart Speaker LLC [cite: Assignment records Reel 056157/0947, Reel 071256/0346, Reel 071256/0349]. Yehuda Binder is also a named inventor. This consistent legal representation by an entity closely tied to the inventor and original assignee, spanning transfers to the asserting entity, is a strong signal.
4. Cascading transfers — Not present. There are two distinct transfers recorded, separated by nearly four years, not multiple consecutive transfers in a short period.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — Present. The assignment to Smart Speaker LLC was executed on May 29, 2025 (Reel 071256/0346), which is very close to the filing of the US District Court case 2:25-cv-00707 in the Texas Eastern District Court (filed in 2025) [cite: The full patent text, under "Legal status", and assignment record Reel 071256/0346]. This timing strongly suggests the transfer was made in anticipation of or to enable the litigation.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. There is no information indicating a bankruptcy sale.
7. Privateering — Unclear. While the patent is being asserted by an NPE, there is no specific information in the provided text to suggest that an operating company transferred the patent to Smart Speaker LLC to assert against its competitors.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The patent is currently held by an asserting entity, not a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence

This verdict is justified by several strong signals. Smart Speaker LLC, the current assignee, is a known patent asserter identified by Unified Patents [cite: The full patent text, under "Legal status"]. The transfer of the patent to Smart Speaker LLC (executed 2025-05-29, Reel 071256/0346) occurred immediately prior to the filing of infringement litigation in 2025 (2:25-cv-00707) [cite: The full patent text, under "Legal status"], which is a classic pre-litigation transfer pattern. Furthermore, the same correspondent, "BINDER, YEHUDA / MAY PATENTS LTD." (with Yehuda Binder being an inventor), handled all assignments in the chain, suggesting a consistent and potentially inventor-controlled strategy often associated with NPEs [cite: Assignment records Reel 056157/0947, Reel 071256/0346, Reel 071256/0349].

For verification, see the USPTO Assignment Center search page: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/ (search for patent number 12010174 or application number 17/408,549).