Patent 8355484

Assignment history

Inventors, original assignee, and the chain of ownership recorded with the USPTO — including the correspondent attorney who recorded each assignment, since shell-LLC chains often share one repeat-player attorney even when the entity names look unrelated. Surfaces NPE / patent-troll patterns: shell-entity transfers, known asserters in the chain, repeat correspondent fingerprints, pre-litigation assignments, and bankruptcy fire-sales.

Active provider: Google · gemini-2.5-flash

Assignment history

Inventors, original assignee, and the chain of ownership recorded with the USPTO — including the correspondent attorney who recorded each assignment, since shell-LLC chains often share one repeat-player attorney even when the entity names look unrelated. Surfaces NPE / patent-troll patterns: shell-entity transfers, known asserters in the chain, repeat correspondent fingerprints, pre-litigation assignments, and bankruptcy fire-sales.

✓ Generated

Inventors

  • Ellen Marie Eide: At the time of filing, likely employed by International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), as she assigned her interest to IBM on January 2, 2007.
  • Wael Mohamed Hamza: At the time of filing, likely employed by International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), as he assigned his interest to IBM on January 2, 2007.

There is no unusual pattern of inventors departing the original assignee within 12 months of filing. The inventors assigned their rights to IBM before the filing date, and the patent was subsequently assigned to Nuance Communications Inc. during prosecution.

Original assignee

The entity named on the issued patent is Nuance Communications Inc.

Nuance Communications Inc. was a prominent operating company specializing in speech recognition, natural language understanding, and imaging solutions. They shipped a wide array of products embodying speech technologies, including those likely related to the claimed invention. Nuance was acquired by Microsoft in 2022. However, prior to this acquisition, Cerence Inc. (the parent company of Cerence Operating Co.), which currently owns this patent, was spun off from Nuance in 2019, taking a portfolio of automotive and other focused assets.

Assignment timeline

  • 2007-01-02 (executed) / recorded 2007-01-08 — Reel 018723/0964

    • Conveyance: Assignment
    • Assignor: Ellen Marie Eide and Wael Mohamed Hamza
    • Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    • Correspondent: MARISSA K. MAGNO, IBM CORPORATION, 2455 SOUTH RD, P386, POUGHKEEPSIE, NY 12601
    • Context: Transfer of inventor's interest to employer.

  • 2009-03-31 (executed) / recorded 2009-05-13 — Reel 022689/0317

    • Conveyance: Assignment
    • Assignor: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    • Assignee: NUANCE COMMUNICATIONS, INC.
    • Correspondent: DEREK J. MAZUR, 77 S BEDFORD STREET, BURLINGTON, MA 01803
    • Context: Transfer of patent application from IBM to Nuance.

  • 2019-09-30 (executed) / recorded 2019-10-23 — Reel 050836/0191

    • Conveyance: Assignment
    • Assignor: NUANCE COMMUNICATIONS, INC.
    • Assignee: CERENCE INC.
    • Correspondent: DEREK B. BLASER, CERENCE INC., 15 WAYSIDE RD, BURLINGTON, MA 01803. This correspondent recurs in this chain.
    • Context: Transfer of intellectual property as part of the Cerence spin-off from Nuance.

  • 2019-09-30 (executed) / recorded 2019-10-29 — Reel 050871/0001

    • Conveyance: Corrective Assignment
    • Assignor: NUANCE COMMUNICATIONS, INC.
    • Assignee: CERENCE OPERATING COMPANY
    • Correspondent: DEREK B. BLASER, CERENCE INC., 15 WAYSIDE RD, BURLINGTON, MA 01803. This correspondent recurs in this chain.
    • Context: Corrective assignment to refine the assignee name from the previous transfer.

  • 2019-10-01 (executed) / recorded 2019-11-07 — Reel 050953/0133

    • Conveyance: Security Agreement
    • Assignor: CERENCE OPERATING COMPANY
    • Assignee: BARCLAYS BANK PLC
    • Correspondent: DEREK B. BLASER, CERENCE INC., 15 WAYSIDE RD, BURLINGTON, MA 01803. This correspondent recurs in this chain.
    • Context: Securitization of assets by Cerence Operating Company.

  • 2020-06-12 (executed) / recorded 2020-06-12 — Reel 052927/0335

    • Conveyance: Release
    • Assignor: BARCLAYS BANK PLC
    • Assignee: CERENCE OPERATING COMPANY
    • Correspondent: Not listed for Release documents.
    • Context: Release of security interest by Barclays Bank PLC.

  • 2020-06-12 (executed) / recorded 2020-06-15 — Reel 052935/0584

    • Conveyance: Security Agreement
    • Assignor: CERENCE OPERATING COMPANY
    • Assignee: WELLS FARGO BANK, N.A.
    • Correspondent: DAVID L. BRENNER, MORRISON & FOERSTER LLP, 250 W 55TH STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10019
    • Context: Securitization of assets by Cerence Operating Company.

  • 2019-09-30 (executed) / recorded 2022-04-19 — Reel 059804/0186

    • Conveyance: Corrective Assignment
    • Assignor: NUANCE COMMUNICATIONS, INC.
    • Assignee: CERENCE OPERATING COMPANY
    • Correspondent: DEREK B. BLASER, CERENCE INC., 15 WAYSIDE RD, BURLINGTON, MA 01803. This correspondent recurs in this chain.
    • Context: Corrective assignment to confirm prior intellectual property agreement.

  • 2024-12-31 (executed) / recorded 2025-01-02 — Reel 069797/0818

    • Conveyance: Release
    • Assignor: WELLS FARGO BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
    • Assignee: CERENCE OPERATING COMPANY
    • Correspondent: Not listed for Release documents.
    • Context: Release of security interest by Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 8355484
    2007 : Inventors assign to IBM
    2009 : IBM assigns to Nuance
    2013 : Patent issued to Nuance
    2019 : Nuance assigns to Cerence Inc
         : Nuance assigns to Cerence Op Co
         : Cerence Op Co to Barclays Bank PLC
    2020 : Barclays releases Cerence Op Co
         : Cerence Op Co to Wells Fargo
    2022 : Nuance corrects assignment to Cerence Op Co
    2025 : Wells Fargo releases Cerence Op Co
    2026 : Infringement suit filed

NPE / troll-pattern signals

  1. Shell-entity transfer — Not present. Cerence Inc. and Cerence Operating Company are both active operating entities, spun off from Nuance Communications Inc.
  2. Known asserter in the chain — Not present. Cerence Operating Company is not typically listed as a patent troll or NPE, but rather as an operating company that provides AI-powered solutions for connected vehicles, a direct successor in business line to Nuance's automotive division.
  3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Present. DEREK B. BLASER, CERENCE INC., appears as the correspondent for multiple assignments involving Cerence Inc. and Cerence Operating Company (Reel 050836/0191, Reel 050871/0001, Reel 050953/0133, Reel 059804/0186). This indicates consistent internal legal representation for Cerence's patent portfolio management.
  4. Cascading transfers — Unclear. While there were several assignments and security agreements around 2019-2020, they represent the spin-off of Cerence from Nuance and subsequent financing activities (security agreements and releases), not transfers between successive shell LLCs.
  5. Pre-litigation transfer — Not present. The most recent assignment to Cerence Operating Company (excluding financial releases) was recorded on April 19, 2022 (corrective assignment), with an effective date of September 30, 2019. This is well over six months before the May 2026 litigation filing against Amazon.
  6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present.
  7. Privateering — Unclear. Cerence was spun off from Nuance. While the spin-off involved a transfer of IP assets, Cerence appears to be asserting these patents in its own operational interests, rather than on behalf of Nuance.
  8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present.

Verdict

Operating-company assertion

Cerence Operating Company, the current assignee, is a publicly traded operating company (spun off from Nuance Communications Inc.) that ships products related to the claimed invention, particularly in the automotive speech AI domain. The current litigation against Amazon.com Inc. (filed May 3, 2026) is an assertion by Cerence, an operating company, against a competitor in the voice assistant market, not a classic NPE pattern. The assignment chain primarily reflects the corporate spin-off and subsequent financing arrangements typical of operating companies. [cite: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/patent/index.html - search 8355484]

Generated 5/29/2026, 9:04:26 PM