Assignment history

Inventors

The inventors named on U.S. Patent 12,417,756 are:

• Ankita Jha
• Lukas Pfeifenberger
• Piotr Dura
• David Braude
• Alvaro Escudero
• Shawn Zhang
• Maxim Serebryakov
• Sharath Kashava Narayana

Based on available information, these inventors are associated with Sanas Ai Inc., with some being co-founders or key team members. Sharath Keshava Narayana is noted as CEO and co-founder, and Shawn Zhang and Maxim Serebryakov are also co-founders. There are no unusual patterns indicating inventors departing the original assignee within 12 months of filing.

Original assignee

The original assignee named on the issued patent is Sanas Ai Inc.

Sanas Ai Inc. is a privately-held software developer that offers a real-time Speech AI platform. Their primary line of business involves providing real-time accent translation, speech enhancement, and language translation technologies, particularly for enterprise and global communication platforms like call centers.

The company actively ships products embodying the claims, specifically their "Accent Translation" technology, which modulates accents in real-time while preserving unique voices and emotions. They have grown significantly, reporting $50M in revenue in January 2026 and supporting over 750,000 users globally.

Sanas Ai Inc. is currently operating and is a Series B company with significant venture backing.

Assignment timeline

The following is a chronological list of every recorded assignment for U.S. Patent 12,417,756, based on the provided patent document's legal events.

• 2025-01-02 to 2025-01-17 (executed) / recorded 2025-01-22 — Reel 069963/0080

  • Conveyance: Assignment of Assignors Interest
  • Assignor: Ankita Jha, Lukas Pfeifenberger, Piotr Dura, and others
  • Assignee: Sanas.ai Inc., California
  • Correspondent: Not available in provided data.
  • Context: Initial assignment from multiple inventors to their employer.

• 2025-08-02 (executed) / recorded 2025-08-04 — Reel 071924/0929

  • Conveyance: Assignment of Assignors Interest
  • Assignor: Sharath Kashava Narayana
  • Assignee: Sanas.ai Inc., California
  • Correspondent: Not available in provided data.
  • Context: Initial assignment from an inventor to their employer.

There are no further recorded assignments for this patent available in the provided data, meaning Sanas.ai Inc. remains the current assignee.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 12417756
    2025 : Inventors assign to Sanas.ai Inc
         : Inventor Narayana assigns to Sanas

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — not present. The patent was assigned directly from the inventors to Sanas.ai Inc., an operating company that develops and markets products embodying the claims. There is no evidence of a transfer to a licensing-only LLC.

2. Known asserter in the chain — not present. Sanas.ai Inc. is an operating company, not identified as a known NPE. They are currently asserting this patent in a district court case against Krisp Technologies, Inc., which appears to be a competitor.

3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — unclear. Correspondent information is not available in the provided data for the recorded assignments (Reel 069963/0080, Reel 071924/0929).

4. Cascading transfers — not present. There are only two assignments, both from inventors to the operating company, and they are not consecutive transfers through chained LLCs.

5. Pre-litigation transfer — not present. The patent was issued on September 16, 2025, and infringement claims were added to a lawsuit by Sanas.ai Inc. on September 23, 2025. While the assertion happened very close to the issue date, the assignments to Sanas.ai Inc. occurred before the patent issued and well before the lawsuit update. The transfer was from inventors to the operating company, not a transfer to enable litigation.

6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. Sanas.ai Inc. is an active, well-funded operating company.

7. Privateering — not present. There is no indication of a transfer to an NPE asserting on behalf of an operating company. Sanas.ai Inc. itself is asserting the patent.

8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The current assignee is Sanas.ai Inc., an operating company.

Verdict

Operating-company assertion

Sanas.ai Inc., the current assignee, is an active operating company that develops and markets products related to real-time accent mimicking. The assignments on record (Reel 069963/0080 and Reel 071924/0929) are initial transfers from the inventors to their employer, which is standard practice. Sanas.ai Inc. is currently asserting this patent against Krisp Technologies, Inc., which appears to be a direct competitor in the speech AI space.

For verification, see the USPTO Assignment Center search page: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/ (search for patent number 12417756).