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Developing: Walker Digital May Have Struck A Deal With Apple
It appears that Walker Digital and Apple reached a possible patent licensing deal, as Walker voluntarily dismissed Apple from two of its lawsuits.
How Do The Nortel Patent Auction Numbers Measure Up? A Look At Comparable IP Monetization Efforts
A lot of numbers are being thrown around in reaction to the Nortel auction, but the one that seems to be the most interesting is $750,000 per patent. Arriving at this number includes entertaining the belief that $4.5 Billion was spent to acquire 6000 assets. However, as I previously observed, look at patents currently in … Continue reading
Concerned About Competition, Feds Should Prefer Nortel Portfolio In The Hands Of ‘NPE’
The Federal Trade Commission, tasked with monitoring “anti-competitive” business practices has been taking a look at Intellectual Property lately, culminating in a 300 page report issued several months ago (see the report at Peter Zura’s 271 Patent Blog) with over 50 recommendations on how it would “improve” the patent system. The FTC’s involvement in IP, … Continue reading
The Inexact Science Of Patent Valuation
Last week, in response to news about Google acquiring a portfolio of mobile phone patents, I harshly criticized the move. Others have been swift to point out that 1) the purchase price represents an extremely tiny fraction of Google revenues, and 2) the acquisition was primarily a defensive maneuver. Both of these statements are likely … Continue reading
Google Patent Blunder: Country’s Best Legal Department Green-Lights World’s Worst Patent Acquisition
The publication Corporate Counsel has, for the past six years (who knew?), been rating in-house legal departments on a variety of ambiguous criteria. This year’s winner of the prestigious “Best Legal Department” award is none other than Google, Inc. The ALM-owned publication likes the search engine’s legal staff because they’re “disruptive” and evidently like to … Continue reading
Walker Digital ‘Pokes’ Facebook (Again) – Two More Patent Lawsuits
Facebook might as well add an “Assert Patent” button to go alongside its “Like” and “Poke” features. This week, Walker Digital filed two new lawsuits against the social networking giant, raising the total to five since November. Walker Digital has effectively now asked Facebook to license ten different patents, related to various kinds of technology … Continue reading
No Rest For Walker Digital – Patent Sales Announced On Heels Of Unprecedented Monetization Efforts
So, the student of war who is unversed in the art of war of varying his plans … will fail to make the best use of his men. – Sun Tzu According to a statement issued today, Walker Digital “commenced the first sales of certain portions of its patent portfolio as part of its patent … Continue reading
Google Sued Over Daily Deal Business Venture
Google‘s interest in the “daily deal” business was demonstrated by their $6 Billion dollar offer to acquire Groupon (leading to a ridiculously overrated valuation of the latter’s patent portfolio). Of course, Groupon spurned this offer, opting for an IPO instead. Undaunted, Google entered the daily deal business on its own, through a service offering called … Continue reading
Behind Walker Digital’s Velvet Glove Lies An Iron Fist
Patent licensing without the backdrop of litigation shouldn’t be rocket science. But Intellectual Ventures figured out last year that before shaking hands with the velvet glove, opponents want to peek at the iron fist. Of course, if you oblige and peel back the glove, or even offer to peel it back, you’ll often just find … Continue reading
The New Patent Licensing Regime
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: throw the old rulebook out the window. The rules for patent licensing changed suddenly and quickly last week when patent owners, for the first time ever, successfully exchanged freedom to operate under a patent portfolio without the ridiculous litigation dog and pony show… as Erik Sherman … Continue reading
