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iniewski
18 patents for $11M, roughly $600k per patent, is that typical these days? Kris
wilber_xbox
Its really a good strategy of buying patents rather than buying the whole ...
Mosaid says Google bought patents for $11M
Dylan McGrath
9/28/2011 5:30 PM EDT
SAN FRANCISCO—Canadian IP licensor Mosaid Technologies Inc. said Wednesday (Sept. 28) that Google Inc. recently bought five patent families from the firm for $11 million.
Mosaid (Ottawa, Canada) said earlier this month that it sold five patent families that were not currently generating revenue to an unnamed buyer. On Wednesday, a spokesperson for the firm confirmed that Google was the buyer.
According to the Mosaid family, the five patent families acquired by Google contained 18 patents and patent applications and foreign counterparts. The price Mosaid got for each patent was comparable to the price that defunct Nortel Networks got this summer from a consortium of companies led by Microsoft Corp. and Apple Inc. for a trove of more than 6,000 patents totaling $4.5 billion.
Google (Mountain View, Calif.) had reportedly been concerned that Mosaid's patent position represented a litigation threat to its Android operating system.
Google was first publicly identified Wednesday as the buyer of the Mosaid patents by a blog called SEO by the Sea.
Earlier this week, Mosaid urged shareholders to reject a recently launched $490 million hostile takeover offer by Wi-LAN Inc.
“We stand by our recommendation that Mosaid shareholders should not tender to the inadequate Wi-LAN offer," said the Mosaid spokesman."Mosaid continues to actively explore and evaluate a broad range of value enhancing alternatives."
Mosaid (Ottawa, Canada) said earlier this month that it sold five patent families that were not currently generating revenue to an unnamed buyer. On Wednesday, a spokesperson for the firm confirmed that Google was the buyer.
According to the Mosaid family, the five patent families acquired by Google contained 18 patents and patent applications and foreign counterparts. The price Mosaid got for each patent was comparable to the price that defunct Nortel Networks got this summer from a consortium of companies led by Microsoft Corp. and Apple Inc. for a trove of more than 6,000 patents totaling $4.5 billion.
Google (Mountain View, Calif.) had reportedly been concerned that Mosaid's patent position represented a litigation threat to its Android operating system.
Google was first publicly identified Wednesday as the buyer of the Mosaid patents by a blog called SEO by the Sea.
Earlier this week, Mosaid urged shareholders to reject a recently launched $490 million hostile takeover offer by Wi-LAN Inc.
“We stand by our recommendation that Mosaid shareholders should not tender to the inadequate Wi-LAN offer," said the Mosaid spokesman."Mosaid continues to actively explore and evaluate a broad range of value enhancing alternatives."
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chanj
9/28/2011 5:42 PM EDT
What are the 5 patents?
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dylan.mcgrath
9/28/2011 5:52 PM EDT
Check out the SEO by the Sea blog for a full rundown of the patents acquired:
http://www.seobythesea.com/2011/09/google-acquires-mosaid-technologies-patents/
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wilber_xbox
9/30/2011 12:49 AM EDT
Its really a good strategy of buying patents rather than buying the whole company. I guess that the patent war is far from over.
@Dylan, you could have included a brief description of the areas in which the patents could be applicable. This would complete the article for readers.
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iniewski
10/3/2011 7:08 PM EDT
18 patents for $11M, roughly $600k per patent, is that typical these days? Kris
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