Assignment history

Inventors

• Seiji Yamahira (Panasonic Corp)

Unusual patterns: Not determinable from the provided text whether the inventor departed the original assignee within 12 months of filing.

Original assignee

The original assignee on the issued patent US7920018 is Panasonic Corp. Panasonic Corp is a multinational electronics company that ships a wide range of products, including consumer electronics, home appliances, and industrial solutions. Given their diverse product lines that include electronic components and semiconductor packaging materials, it is highly probable they shipped products embodying the claims related to booster circuits for semiconductor memory devices. Panasonic Corp is currently operating.

Assignment timeline

• 2020-08-17 (executed) / recorded 2020-08-24 — Reel 053570/0429
  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: PANASONIC CORPORATION
  • Assignee: PANASONIC SEMICONDUCTOR SOLUTIONS CO., LTD.
  • Correspondent: Panasonic Corp. This is an internal corporate reorganization.
  • Context: Internal corporate reorganization.
• 2020-09-02 (executed) / recorded 2024-03-20 — Reel 066849/0802
  • Conveyance: Change of Name
  • Assignor: PANASONIC SEMICONDUCTOR SOLUTIONS CO., LTD.
  • Assignee: NUVOTON TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION JAPAN
  • Correspondent: Not specified in the provided text.
  • Context: Corporate name change.
• 2024-03-25 (executed) / recorded 2024-04-22 — Reel 067184/0869
  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: NUVOTON TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION JAPAN
  • Assignee: ADVANCED MEMORY TECHNOLOGIES LLC
  • Correspondent: Daniel A. Boehnen, McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP, 300 S. Wacker Drive, Chicago, IL 60606. This correspondent is not flagged as recurring in the provided information.
  • Context: Transfer to an asserting entity.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 7920018
    2011 : Patent issued
    2020 : Assigned to Panasonic Semiconductor Solutions
    2024 : Nuvoton Technology Corp Japan by name change
         : Assigned to Advanced Memory Technologies LLC
    2024 : Infringement suit filed by AMT
    2025 : IPR filed against AMT

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — Present.

   • Advanced Memory Technologies LLC (AMT) is a Delaware limited liability company with its principal place of business at 825 Watters Creek Blvd. Suite 250, Allen, Texas 75013. It has been identified as a non-practicing entity (NPE). AMT sued SK Hynix Inc. for patent infringement in December 2024. Public records do not identify the personnel or management of Advanced Memory Technologies. The assignment from Nuvoton Technology Corporation Japan to Advanced Memory Technologies LLC occurred on 2024-03-25 (executed) / 2024-04-22 (recorded).

2. Known asserter in the chain — Present.

   • Advanced Memory Technologies LLC (AMT) is identified as a non-practicing entity (NPE). They filed a patent infringement complaint against SK Hynix Inc. in the Eastern District of Texas on December 30, 2024, asserting US7920018 along with other patents. Unified Patents also identifies an IPR filed by SK Hynix Inc. against Advanced Memory Technologies LLC for US7920018 (IPR2025-01450). RPX reported on Nuvoton Technology assigning patents to Advanced Memory Technologies LLC, an entity formed in Delaware less than a week prior, in March 2024, noting that public records do not identify its personnel or management.

3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Not present.

   • The correspondent for the assignment to Advanced Memory Technologies LLC is Daniel A. Boehnen of McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP. There is no indication in the provided text that this correspondent recurs in this chain or is otherwise associated with known NPE assertion lists.

4. Cascading transfers — Present.

   • The patent was reassigned from Panasonic Corp to Panasonic Semiconductor Solutions Co., Ltd. (internal reorganization) on 2020-08-17. Then, a change of name occurred for Panasonic Semiconductor Solutions Co., Ltd. to Nuvoton Technology Corporation Japan, which was executed on 2020-09-02 and recorded on 2024-03-20. Subsequently, the patent was assigned from Nuvoton Technology Corporation Japan to Advanced Memory Technologies LLC on 2024-03-25. The transfers from Panasonic Semiconductor Solutions Co., Ltd. to Nuvoton Technology Corporation Japan and then to Advanced Memory Technologies LLC occurred in close succession (within approximately 4 years for the first, and then within days for the second once the name change was recorded in 2024), especially when considering the lag in recording the name change. The active transfer to AMT was within days of the name change being recorded, indicating a rapid transfer of assets for assertion.

5. Pre-litigation transfer — Present.

   • The assignment to Advanced Memory Technologies LLC was executed on 2024-03-25 and recorded on 2024-04-22. Advanced Memory Technologies LLC filed an infringement suit against SK Hynix Inc. on December 30, 2024. This falls within the 6-month window prior to litigation.

6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present.

   • There is no information in the provided text to suggest a bankruptcy of Panasonic Corp or Nuvoton Technology Corporation Japan.

7. Privateering — Unclear.

   • While Nuvoton Technology Corporation Japan (formerly Panasonic Semiconductor Solutions Co., Ltd., a Panasonic entity) transferred the patent to AMT, there is no explicit evidence in the provided text to suggest that Panasonic or Nuvoton is funding or directing AMT's litigation against their competitors.

8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present.

   • The chain terminates with Advanced Memory Technologies LLC, which is an NPE, not a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence
This verdict is based on several strong signals: Advanced Memory Technologies LLC (AMT) is a known Non-Practicing Entity, the patent was transferred to AMT shortly before infringement litigation was filed, and there were cascading transfers leading up to AMT's acquisition. The entity Advanced Memory Technologies LLC also lacks publicly identified personnel or management and has its principal place of business at a registered-agent type address in Texas. The current legal actions, including an IPR challenge by SK Hynix, further confirm AMT's role as an asserting entity.

USPTO Assignment Center search for US7920018: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/patent/index.html