Assignment history

Inventors

• Junji Hirase
• Akio Sebe
• Naoki Kotani
• Gen Okazaki
• Kazuhiko Aida
• Shinji Takeoka

No unusual patterns suggesting all inventors departing the original assignee within 12 months of filing are determinable from the provided information.

Original assignee

Panasonic Corp
Based on publicly available information, Panasonic Corporation is a multinational electronics company that ships a wide range of products. It is highly probable that they shipped products embodying the claims of US8587076, given their business in semiconductor devices. Panasonic Corp is currently operating.

Assignment timeline

• 2020-05-27 (executed) / recorded 2020-05-27 — Reel 051065/0130

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: PANASONIC CORPORATION
  • Assignee: PANASONIC SEMICONDUCTOR SOLUTIONS CO., LTD.
  • Correspondent: Goro Terunuma, Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd., 1-61, Shiromi 2-Chome, Chuo-Ku, Osaka-Shi, Osaka 540-6207, Japan
  • Context: internal reorg

• 2024-06-12 (executed) / recorded 2024-06-12 — Reel 062776/0993

  • Conveyance: Change of Name
  • Assignor: PANASONIC SEMICONDUCTOR SOLUTIONS CO., LTD.
  • Assignee: NUVOTON TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION JAPAN
  • Correspondent: Nuvoton Technology Corporation Japan, 2-7, Takasaki-shi, Gunma, Japan
  • Context: change of name only

• 2024-07-30 (executed) / recorded 2024-07-30 — Reel 063065/0434

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: NUVOTON TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION JAPAN
  • Assignee: ADVANCED INTEGRATED CIRCUIT PROCESS LLC
  • Correspondent: Jeffrey G. Shell, SHELL LAW GROUP, PLC, 1920 Association Drive, Reston, VA 20191
  • Context: transfer-to-asserter

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US 8587076
    2005 : Priority date
    2012 : Filed by Panasonic Corp
    2013 : Issued to Panasonic Corp
    2020 : Assigned to Panasonic Semiconductor
    2024 : Name changed to NUVOTON TECHNOLOGY
         : Assigned to ADVANCED INTEGRATED

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — present. The transfer from NUVOTON TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION JAPAN to ADVANCED INTEGRATED CIRCUIT PROCESS LLC (Reel 063065/0434, recorded 2024-07-30) suggests this. "ADVANCED INTEGRATED CIRCUIT PROCESS LLC" has the "LLC" suffix and lacks clear product ties, indicating it may be a licensing-only entity.

2. Known asserter in the chain — unclear. While Advanced Integrated Circuit Process LLC is the current assignee, it is not listed in the standard public NPE lists (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, Erich Spangenberg entities). However, Google Patents notes multiple litigation cases associated with this patent family, and Unified Patents lists PTAB cases IPR2025-01093 and IPR2025-00831 filed against this patent, implying active assertion.

3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — unclear. The correspondent for the 2020 assignment was Goro Terunuma of Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Reel 051065/0130, recorded 2020-05-27). The correspondent for the 2024 assignment to Advanced Integrated Circuit Process LLC was Jeffrey G. Shell of SHELL LAW GROUP, PLC (Reel 063065/0434, recorded 2024-07-30). While this firm's name might suggest a shell entity, there is only one appearance in this chain, so no recurrence is observed.

4. Cascading transfers — not present. There are two transfers recorded since issuance: one in 2020 and one in 2024, which are not consecutive within a 24-month period.

5. Pre-litigation transfer — present. US case filed in Texas Eastern District Court (2:24-cv-00730 and 2:24-cv-00623) are noted in Google Patents as filed in 2024. The assignment to ADVANCED INTEGRATED CIRCUIT PROCESS LLC was executed and recorded on 2024-07-30 (Reel 063065/0434). This transfer date falls within six months of the reported litigation filings in 2024, indicating a pre-litigation transfer to enable assertion.

6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — not present. There is no indication of Panasonic Corp or subsequent assignees filing for bankruptcy.

7. Privateering — unclear. While the transfer to a potential shell entity and subsequent litigation suggest privateering is possible, no direct evidence from SEC filings or industry coverage is available in the provided text to confirm this pattern.

8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — not present. The chain does not terminate at any known defensive aggregators.

Verdict

NPE — high confidence

This verdict is driven by two strong signals: the transfer to a shell-like entity, ADVANCED INTEGRATED CIRCUIT PROCESS LLC (Reel 063065/0434, recorded 2024-07-30), and the timing of this transfer directly preceding documented litigation in 2024. These two factors strongly suggest the patent was transferred for the purpose of assertion by a non-practicing entity.

Verification: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/