BlackBerry patents or depreciation less valuable

NetEase Science and technology news August 20, according to foreign media reports, a professional estimate of the BlackBerry's patent portfolio value between 2 billion U.S. dollars to 5 billion U.S. dollars, but one analyst pointed out that the company's patents may have depreciated, and not so valuable. Some people believe that the BlackBerry's patent portfolio is one of the company's most valuable assets. But what if it isn't? What if its value to the BlackBerry's potential suitors is diminished by existing cross licensing agreements? That may be true, according to a new view from James Faucette, the Pacific Crown Securities analyst James Fossit. Recent analyses have said that the value of the BlackBerry patent portfolio is between $2 billion and $5 billion, depending on whether the patents were bought by a single buyer or by a consortium of companies in a form of a cross licensing agreement. But Fawcett points out that the company's patent portfolio value may have slipped over the years because of the licensing agreements that BlackBerry has signed during normal business operations. "BlackBerry is clearly a huge patent portfolio, but we estimate that many of these patents have been cross-referenced to other wireless industry companies." "If this is the case, many traditional wireless companies may already have full or near-full access to the BlackBerry's intellectual property rights," Fawcett said. "This does not mean that cross licensing of intellectual property is worthless." But the usefulness of those patents could be even more limited for the particular acquirers who want to make a big profit. Their value will therefore be cut. There is another thing that could weaken the price of the BlackBerry patent portfolio, which is the standard underlying patent. According to a non-party statement submitted by the BlackBerry in the case of Apple and Motorola Mobility, BlackBerry owns and authorizes a large number of standard base patents (hereinafter referred to as "SEP"). BlackBerry to the United States, Europe and other regions of the technical standards contribute to a large number of standard development work has contributed to the patented technology. Many BlackBerry products implement countless different standards created by dozens of standard-setting organizations (SSO). As a result, BlackBerry signed a large number of licensing and cross licensing agreements involving Sep. In other words, a significant part of the BlackBerry's intellectual property belongs to Sep. This may involve a problem: the value of Sep is not comparable to those that are not used for industry standards because the owners of Sep must authorize Sep patents on a fair, impartial and reasonable basis to other companies. Fawcett points out that the case of a product ban or an import ban because of sep violations is rare. It is well known that it is not easy to assess the value of a patent portfolio such as the BlackBerry patent, and it is not yet certain how serious the issue of the BlackBerry's Patent cross licensing agreement is, or how much of a problem will affect the company's potential patent sales. But in general, BlackBerry patents may not be as valuable as people think. (Lebang)