Assignment history — US Patent 12401720

Inventors

Yehuda Binder: Founder & CEO of May Patents Ltd.
Benjamin Maytal: Co-inventor on patents assigned to May Patents Ltd.

Both inventors appear to be closely associated with May Patents Ltd., which is identified as the original assignee. Yehuda Binder is explicitly named as the Founder & CEO of May Patents Ltd. and an "expert in patent monetization worldwide".

Original assignee

The entity named on the issued patent is May Patents Ltd..

Based on available information, May Patents Ltd. states it "engages in inventing, developing, manufacturing, and commercializing inventions including the asserted patents". However, further investigation suggests their primary line of business is patent monetization. Their website has generic content and testimonials, which is atypical for a product-shipping operating company. While a related entity, May Health, mentions "The Anavi System" as being covered by patents, it is "currently limited to investigational use in the United States," indicating no broadly commercialized product embodying the claims. Yehuda Binder, a co-inventor and CEO, is described as an "expert in patent monetization worldwide".

May Patents Ltd. appears to be an active entity, focusing on patent-related activities, including potential assertion, given the IPR filing against it.

Assignment timeline

There are no recorded assignments for US patent 12401720 found on the USPTO Patent Assignment Search website as of 2026-05-29. The patent was originally assigned to May Patents Ltd. at the time of filing on 2025-05-08, as indicated in the Google Patents record.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 12401720
    2012 : Priority date
    2025 : Filed by May Patents Ltd
         : Issued to May Patents Ltd

NPE / troll-pattern signals

Shell-entity transfer — Not present. There are no recorded transfers of this patent from an operating assignee to a licensing-only LLC. However, the original assignee, May Patents Ltd., appears to function as a patent monetization entity rather than a traditional operating company.
Known asserter in the chain — Not present. While May Patents Ltd. exhibits characteristics of an NPE, it is not explicitly listed among the common known asserters provided in the prompt, and there is no recorded chain of assignments to one.
Repeat correspondent across the chain — Not applicable. There is no recorded assignment chain to analyze for recurring correspondents.
Cascading transfers — Not present. There are no recorded transfers.
Pre-litigation transfer — Not present. There are no recorded transfers.
Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. There are no recorded transfers indicating a bankruptcy sale.
Privateering — Unclear. While May Patents Ltd. engages in patent monetization and one of its inventors is an "expert in patent monetization", there is no evidence of a transfer from an operating company to May Patents Ltd. for the purpose of asserting patents on the operating company's behalf.
Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The patent is not currently assigned to a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — moderate confidence

The verdict is based on the nature of May Patents Ltd. itself, rather than an assignment chain. May Patents Ltd. is listed as the original and current assignee and is involved in "patent monetization". Despite stating engagement in "developing, manufacturing, and commercializing inventions," the only specific product mentioned is "limited to investigational use", suggesting minimal or no commercial product shipment. The company's website also lacks typical operating company characteristics. These factors indicate that May Patents Ltd. functions as an NPE, even without a transfer occurring.

(Verification: USPTO Assignment Center search for US12401720: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/ [No recorded assignments for this patent number were found upon searching.])