Assignment history

Inventors

• Yusuke Yatabe (Hitachi, Ltd.)
• Hironori Komi (Hitachi, Ltd.)

It is determinable that the inventors were employed by Hitachi, Ltd. at the time of filing, as Hitachi, Ltd. is listed as the original assignee.

Original assignee

The original assignee on the issued patent is Hitachi, Ltd. Hitachi, Ltd. is a highly diversified Japanese multinational conglomerate active in various industries including digital systems, power and renewable energy, railway systems, healthcare products, and financial systems. They produce a wide range of products, though they stopped producing televisions in 2012. As of today, Hitachi, Ltd. is an operating company.

Assignment timeline

• 2005-01-02 (executed) / recorded 2005-02-09 — Reel 016276/0909
  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: KOMI, HIRONORI; YATABE, YUSUKE
  • Assignee: HITACHI, LTD., JAPAN
  • Correspondent: N/A (not recorded on Google Patents)
  • Context: Original assignment from inventors to company.
• 2013-06-07 (executed) / recorded 2013-06-12 — Reel 030648/0217
  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: HITACHI, LTD.
  • Assignee: HITACHI CONSUMER ELECTRONICS CO., LTD., JAPAN
  • Correspondent: N/A (not recorded on Google Patents)
  • Context: Internal reorganization.
• 2014-08-26 (executed) / recorded 2014-09-08 — Reel 033694/0745
  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: HITACHI CONSUMER ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.; HITACHI CONSUMER ELECTRONICS CO, LTD.
  • Assignee: HITACHI MAXELL, LTD., JAPAN
  • Correspondent: N/A (not recorded on Google Patents)
  • Context: Internal reorganization/acquisition, as Maxell acquired Hitachi Consumer Electronics Co., Ltd.'s projector design, development, and manufacturing assets in 2013.
• 2017-10-01 (executed) / recorded 2018-01-25 — Reel 045142/0208
  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: HITACHI MAXELL, LTD.
  • Assignee: MAXELL, LTD., JAPAN
  • Correspondent: N/A (not recorded on Google Patents)
  • Context: Change of name, as Hitachi Maxell, Ltd. changed its name to Maxell, Ltd.
• 2021-10-01 (executed) / recorded 2021-11-29 — Reel 058255/0579
  • Conveyance: Merger
  • Assignor: MAXELL, LTD.
  • Assignee: MAXELL HOLDINGS, LTD., JAPAN
  • Correspondent: N/A (not recorded on Google Patents)
  • Context: Merger, as Maxell transitioned to a holding company structure in 2014 and changed its name to Maxell Holdings, Ltd., then Maxell Holdings, Ltd. merged with Maxell, Ltd. in 2021.
• 2021-10-01 (executed) / recorded 2021-12-03 — Reel 058666/0407
  • Conveyance: Change of Name
  • Assignor: MAXELL HOLDINGS, LTD.
  • Assignee: MAXELL, LTD., JAPAN
  • Correspondent: N/A (not recorded on Google Patents)
  • Context: Change of name, as Maxell Holdings, Ltd. changed its name back to Maxell, Ltd. after dissolving the holding company structure.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 8180198
    2005 : Assigned to Hitachi Ltd
    2012 : Patent issued
    2013 : Assigned to Hitachi Consumer Electronics
    2014 : Assigned to Hitachi Maxell Ltd
    2018 : Assigned to Maxell Ltd
    2021 : Merged to Maxell Holdings Ltd
         : Name changed to Maxell Ltd

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — not present. The assignees throughout the chain (Hitachi, Hitachi Consumer Electronics, Hitachi Maxell, and Maxell) are all operating companies with diverse product lines.

2. Known asserter in the chain — not present. None of the listed assignees are recognized as known NPEs like Acacia Research Corp, Marathon Patent Group, Intellectual Ventures, IPNav, Wi-LAN, Mosaid/Conversant, Vringo, Pendrell, Innovatio IP Ventures, MPHJ Technology, Lumen View Technology, Round Rock Research, Document Generation Corp, or Erich Spangenberg entities.

3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — unclear. Correspondent information was not recorded for any of the assignment events on Google Patents.

4. Cascading transfers — not present. While there are several assignments, they occur over several years and are clearly tied to internal corporate restructuring and name changes, rather than rapid transfers between anonymous entities. The transfers in 2021 are both executed on the same day and recorded days apart, reflecting a single corporate event (merger and subsequent name change).

5. Pre-litigation transfer — unclear. There is no information provided in the patent record or search results about litigation related to this specific patent, making it impossible to determine if any assignments preceded litigation.

6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. There is no indication that any of the assignors or assignees have filed for bankruptcy and subsequently sold off their patent portfolios.

7. Privateering — not present. There is no evidence of an operating company transferring this patent to an NPE to assert on its behalf.

8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The chain does not terminate at any known defensive aggregators such as RPX, Allied Security Trust (AST), LOT Network, Unified Patents, or Open Invention Network.

Verdict

Insufficient data. While the assignment chain primarily reflects corporate restructuring among operating companies, the lack of correspondent information for any of the assignments prevents a thorough analysis for NPE patterns. Without this key detail, it is not possible to definitively rule out the involvement of a repeat-player correspondent, which is a strong indicator of NPE activity.

USPTO Assignment Center search page: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/