Assignment history

Inventors

• Anita Au: No employer listed in patent. Assumed individual at the time of filing.
• Gerald Chan: No employer listed in patent. Assumed individual at the time of filing.

No unusual patterns, such as all inventors departing the original assignee, were observed as the patent application was filed by the individual inventors.

Original assignee

The original assignee on the patent application was the individual inventors, Anita Au and Gerald Chan. The issued patent US7482916B2 lists the inventors but does not explicitly name a corporate assignee on its front page. There is no information to suggest that the individual inventors shipped a product embodying the claims, nor would they have a primary line of business in the sense of a commercial entity.

Assignment timeline

• 2020-03-05 (executed) / recorded 2020-03-12 — Reel 049580/0675
  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: Au, Anita; Chan, Gerald
  • Assignee: AutoSignal, LLC
  • Correspondent: Matthew S. Williams, Williams Law, P.C., 455 E. North Water St. #1709, Chicago, IL 60611. This correspondent recurs in this chain.
  • Context: Transfer from individual inventors to an LLC.
• 2026-01-20 (executed) / recorded 2026-01-28 — Reel 065586/0681
  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: AutoSignal, LLC
  • Assignee: Wyoming Technology Licensing, LLC
  • Correspondent: Matthew S. Williams, Williams Law, P.C., 455 E. North Water St. #1709, Chicago, IL 60611. This correspondent recurs in this chain.
  • Context: Transfer from one LLC to another LLC.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 7482916
    2005 : Filed by individual inventors
    2009 : Issued to individual inventors
    2020 : Assigned to AutoSignal LLC
    2025 : Patent expired
    2026 : Assigned to Wyoming Technology Licensing LLC

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — Present.
   • The transfer to "AutoSignal, LLC" (Reel 049580/0675, recorded 2020-03-12) and subsequently to "Wyoming Technology Licensing, LLC" (Reel 065586/0681, recorded 2026-01-28) are strong signals. The "Licensing, LLC" suffix for the current assignee specifically indicates a licensing-only business model.
2. Known asserter in the chain — Present.
   • Wyoming Technology Licensing, LLC is the current assignee and is actively asserting this patent in litigation against General Motors LLC and Toyota Motor North America, Inc., as noted in the "Litigation summary" section (Case Numbers: 1:2026cv00810 and 2:2026cv00268, filed April 1, 2026).
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Present.
   • Matthew S. Williams of Williams Law, P.C., is listed as the correspondent for both recorded assignments (Reel 049580/0675 and Reel 065586/0681).
4. Cascading transfers — Not present.
   • Only two assignments are recorded over a six-year period, which does not constitute multiple consecutive transfers within a short timeframe.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — Present.
   • The patent was assigned to Wyoming Technology Licensing, LLC on 2026-01-20 (executed) and recorded on 2026-01-28 (Reel 065586/0681). Infringement lawsuits against General Motors LLC and Toyota Motor North America, Inc. were filed on April 1, 2026, approximately two months after this assignment.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present.
   • There is no evidence from the assignment records to indicate a bankruptcy filing by any assignor.
7. Privateering — Unclear.
   • While the current assignee is an NPE, there is no explicit evidence (e.g., from SEC filings or public reports) to suggest this is a privateering arrangement where an operating company transferred the patent for assertion on its behalf.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present.
   • The chain terminates with an entity actively asserting the patent, not a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence

Justification: Multiple strong signals support an NPE classification. The patent was transferred from individual inventors to "AutoSignal, LLC" and then to "Wyoming Technology Licensing, LLC," with the latter's name suggesting a licensing focus (Reel 049580/0675 and 065586/0681). Matthew S. Williams of Williams Law, P.C., acted as the recurring correspondent for both transfers, a common characteristic of NPE operations. Crucially, the final assignment to Wyoming Technology Licensing, LLC in January 2026 immediately preceded the filing of infringement lawsuits in April 2026, indicating a pre-litigation transfer to an asserting entity.

USPTO Assignment Center search page for verification: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/query?query=7482916