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Sector - IP valuation
BT switches from privateering to licensing transparency
It emerged last week that BT has launched a campaign to license its patents covering SIP trunking, a key technology in the voice over internet protocol (VoIP) space. BT’s proposed licensing terms, as well as price points and a list of the 99 US patents it is seeking royalties for, can be viewed here. In contrast with the norm, the British company has outlined a comprehensive royalty payment structure on its website – possibly signifying the adoption of a new strategy ...
Posted by Jack Ellis, IAM Magazine on 09 May 2013 @ 12:00AM
Why on earth does Google bother trying to sell patents it cannot get top dollar for?
Over on the IP Watchdog website, Gene Quinn is reporting on an exchange he has had with Google over whether the company sells patents to trolls or not. Yesterday, Quinn had reported that Suzanne Michel, senior patent counsel at Google, had stated at a conference that the company sometimes did. Today, he reports that Google has been in touch to deny that this is the case. It seems that there has been some misunderstanding about Ms Michel’s words. For what it’s worth, my ...
Posted by Joff Wild, IAM Magazine on 02 May 2013 @ 5:48PM
BlackBerry seeks buyers for its Rockstar stake, but a deal is not certain
BlackBerry is looking to sell its stake in Rockstar, according to several sources that have been in touch with IAM. The Canadian company, which as Research In Motion was one of the five founders of the NPE after the Nortel auction took place in June 2011, has been involved in talks with prospective buyers over recent months, but as yet has not found anyone willing to commit to a deal. Although there seems to be some interest in acquiring BlackBerry’s stake in the Ottawa-based ...
Posted by Joff Wild, IAM Magazine on 29 April 2013 @ 1:29PM
Now that it has been defeated on FRAND, Google must find other ways to leverage SEPs
A Seattle district court hearing a standards-essential patent (SEP) dispute between Microsoft and Google-owned Motorola Mobility has set a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) licence fee for Moto’s SEPs relating to the H.264 video codec and IEEE 802.11 wifi standards. The royalty rates fixed by the court are expected to provide a framework for deciding upon FRAND licence fees in future SEP disputes. But while the court’s decision may present a setback for ...
Posted by Jack Ellis, IAM Magazine on 26 April 2013 @ 12:48PM
Nokia still sees a big future in patent licensing, but is progress slower than expected?
Speaking last week during an earnings call with analysts to discuss Nokia’s quarter one financial results, CFO Timo Ihamuotila stated that the company would generate €500 million ($653 million) from patent licensing this year. CEO Stephen Elop then elaborated on that: It is very important to protect what we’re doing and make sure people [who profit from using that IP] are paying their fair share … I can’t comment on specific vendors, but when there is a ...
Posted by Joff Wild, IAM Magazine on 21 April 2013 @ 1:16PM
Acacia shares dive after firm announces second-best quarterly revenue results in its history
Acacia shares lost over 27% of their value yesterday as the markets reacted negatively to the publicly-quoted NPE’s first quarter figures, which were released on Thursday. The firm reported a drop in operating revenues to $76,861,000 and a decline in net income to $5.11M or $0.11 a share compared to Q1 2012’s $49.93M or $1.09 a share; with adjusted earnings of $22.71M or $0.47 a share. However, Acacia actually beat market expectations, which had been for revenues of just ...
Posted by Joff Wild, IAM Magazine on 20 April 2013 @ 1:10PM
Even though it won’t say so, patents are now a big business for Microsoft - UPDATED
The news that Microsoft had signed up Taiwanese company Hon Hai Precision (parent company of Foxconn, producer of 40% of the world’s consumer electronics) came just a couple of days before the company announced its third quarter results. These showed an 18% rise in revenues to just over $20 billion, with profits standing at $6.05 billion – an 18.5% increase. As with the other Android-related deals that Microsoft has done (there are 19 of these now, all helpfully ...
Posted by Joff Wild, IAM Magazine on 19 April 2013 @ 2:46PM
Full steam ahead for IPXI after DoJ anti-trust hurdle is cleared
Gerard Pannekoek, president and CEO of IPXI, has welcomed the findings of a Department of Justice business review of the proposed patent exchange. Conducted by the DoJ’s anti-trust division at the request of IPXI, the review concluded that there is no reason to take any action over possible competition concerns before the exchange’s proposed launch. According to a DoJ press release, IPXI “potentially could benefit the intellectual property (IP) marketplace and ...
Posted by Joff Wild, IAM Magazine on 29 March 2013 @ 6:10PM
Nokia does privateering deal with Pendrell, the NPE's third big acquisition in last year
Pendrell Corporation has announced that it has acquired “several fundamental patent portfolios covering a wide range of foundational memory technologies for electronic devices” from Nokia. In total, 125 patents and applications are involved in the deal, “81 of which have been declared by Nokia to be essential to applicable standards”. The press release revealing the acquisition also states: “Pendrell has created a new wholly owned subsidiary, Helsinki ...
Posted by Joff Wild, IAM Magazine on 25 March 2013 @ 3:22PM
Big-ticket deal hype has faded, but patents are now part of the C-suite mindset like never before
Speaking during an event at the Practising Law Institute in San Francisco this week, senior executives from Intel, Microsoft, RPX and Intellectual Ventures suggested that buy-side demand for large patent portfolios has faded since the multi-billion dollar Nortel and Motorola Mobility purchases in 2011. According to Thomson Reuters, David Kaefer, Microsoft’s general manager for IP & licensing, said that many potential buyers had already “satisfied their needs” ...
Posted by Jack Ellis, IAM Magazine on 22 March 2013 @ 11:34AM
