Patent 12337715

Assignment history

Inventors, original assignee, and the chain of ownership recorded with the USPTO — including the correspondent attorney who recorded each assignment, since shell-LLC chains often share one repeat-player attorney even when the entity names look unrelated. Surfaces NPE / patent-troll patterns: shell-entity transfers, known asserters in the chain, repeat correspondent fingerprints, pre-litigation assignments, and bankruptcy fire-sales.

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Assignment history

Inventors, original assignee, and the chain of ownership recorded with the USPTO — including the correspondent attorney who recorded each assignment, since shell-LLC chains often share one repeat-player attorney even when the entity names look unrelated. Surfaces NPE / patent-troll patterns: shell-entity transfers, known asserters in the chain, repeat correspondent fingerprints, pre-litigation assignments, and bankruptcy fire-sales.

✓ Generated

Inventors

  • Angel A. Penilla
  • Albert S. Penilla

Both inventors are principals of the original assignee, Emerging Automotive LLC. Albert Penilla is also the founder and principal attorney of Penilla IP, APC, a patent prosecution firm. This indicates the patent was developed and prosecuted by the same entity, which is not an unusual pattern for inventor-owned companies.

Original assignee

The original and current assignee of record is Emerging Automotive LLC.

This entity appears to be a non-practicing entity (NPE) controlled by the inventors. It was formed in California in May 2017. There is no evidence that Emerging Automotive LLC has ever shipped a commercial product or service that embodies the claims of the patent. Public records and patent litigation databases show its primary activity is patent assertion. The company has filed multiple lawsuits against automakers Kia and Toyota, asserting a large family of over 100 patents related to vehicle e-keys and cloud-based user profiles. The entity is active and engaged in ongoing litigation.

Assignment timeline

A search of the USPTO Patent Assignment Search database for US Patent 12,337,715 reveals no recorded assignments as of 2026-05-13. The patent remains with its original assignee.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 12337715
    2011 : Earliest priority date
    2023 : Application filed by Emerging Automotive LLC
    2025 : Issued to Emerging Automotive LLC
         : Asserted against Kia and Toyota

NPE / troll-pattern signals

  1. Shell-entity transfer: Not present. The patent has not been transferred from an operating company. The original assignee, Emerging Automotive LLC, appears to have been created by the inventors for the purpose of holding and asserting patents.

  2. Known asserter in the chain: Present. The current assignee, Emerging Automotive LLC, is documented as a patent asserter by both RPX and Unified Patents. It has filed litigation against Toyota and Kia.

  3. Repeat correspondent across the chain: Not present. There are no assignments of record in the USPTO database, so this signal is not applicable.

  4. Cascading transfers: Not present. There have been no recorded transfers of the patent.

  5. Pre-litigation transfer: Not present. The patent was asserted by the original assignee. There was no transfer prior to litigation. Litigation against Toyota was initiated in August 2025, shortly after the patent's issuance in June 2025.

  6. Bankruptcy fire-sale: Not present. There is no indication that the original assignee has undergone bankruptcy proceedings.

  7. Privateering: Not present. The asserting entity is controlled by the inventors themselves, not a third-party NPE acting on behalf of an operating company.

  8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE): Not present. The patent is held by an asserting entity, not a defensive aggregator like RPX or Unified Patents. In fact, Unified Patents has actively challenged other patents in the same family.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence

The patent is owned by Emerging Automotive LLC, an entity created and controlled by the named inventors, one of whom is a patent attorney. This entity has no known products and its primary business activity appears to be the assertion of a large patent portfolio against major automotive companies. This activity is documented by industry sources like RPX and Unified Patents, which classify Emerging Automotive as a patent asserter.

Verify at: USPTO Assignment Search (search for patent number 12337715).

Generated 5/13/2026, 12:23:27 AM