Patent acquisition Activities Flourish

Absrtact: In the Internet age, the patent war is as famous as the network innovation. From computer chip makers to smartphone vendors to video game developers, their battlefield has gone from market to court, with plaintiffs and defendants fighting for their technology rights

In the Internet age, the patent war is as famous as Internet innovation. From computer chip makers to smartphone vendors to video game developers, their battlefield has gone from the market to the courts, and plaintiffs and defendants have struggled to fight for their technology rights.

Gentlemen's agreement was ruined.

"Over the years, the patent arms race has largely stalled, as there is a gentlemen's agreement between companies not to prosecute." Colleen Duy, a law professor at the University of Santa Clara, said, "The business model of the new patent claim is all messed up." Companies have broken the gentlemen's agreement with each other, patent prosecution has become a new normal. ”

Patent rogue companies have played a role in fuelling the outbreak of the patent war. These companies specialize in buying or applying for patents, the main purpose of which is to prosecute companies that use these patents one day in the future.

Colin says the number of patent rogue companies is growing, and the number of large companies that win or protect market share by patent wars is growing. "What do you call a bankrupt company that has recourse to a patent lawsuit?" "Are these companies also becoming patent rogue companies?" she asked.

Last month, the beleaguered internet pioneer, Yahoo, filed a patent lawsuit, suing Facebook for violating its 10 patents. Facebook immediately sued Yahoo for violating its patent.

Even Oracle, the enterprise software giant, has been embroiled in a patent war. Oracle has copied its Java code directly from parts of the code that sued Google's Android operating system. The case will be heard next Monday.

Patent acquisition Activities Flourish

As the patent war rages on, internet companies with strong financial clout are starting to buy intellectual property from technology companies to enrich their proprietary libraries. This week, AOL announced plans to sell more than 800 patents to Microsoft at a price of 1.056 billion dollars, giving the company much-needed cash. Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel, said the software giant had "finally acquired a valuable patent library coveted for years."

In March, Facebook confirmed that it had purchased 750 software and Internet patents from IBM, a move aimed at enriching its patent arsenal and boosting its war-fighting power on the patent battlefield.

Earlier this year, Google also purchased 188 patents related to mobile phones from IBM and 29 patents in the process of application. However, Google did not disclose the amount of turnover. Last year, IBM sold about 2000 patents to Google, involving mobile software, computer hardware and processors. Google has been strengthening its patent reserves, as patent lawsuits have played a bigger role in the scramble for smartphone and tablet market share.

In the patent war, Apple was a major prosecutor. Last year, Google transferred a number of patents to smartphone giant HTC to help the Taiwanese company fight patent lawsuits against Apple, the iphone maker. Earlier, Apple sued HTC and other smartphone makers using Google's Android mobile operating system, claiming they violated Apple's patents. Some of these patents were bought by HTC from Google, which originally belonged to Motorola Mobility. Google, for its valuable patent on Motorola Mobility, is preparing to buy it for $12.5 billion in cash.

"Our acquisition of Motorola Mobility will enrich Google's proprietary library and improve its ability to respond to patent lawsuits, which will help us better protect Android from the threat of Microsoft, Apple or other companies," he said. "Google CEO Larry Page said when announcing the acquisition of Motorola Mobility. Sanjay Sanjay Jha, Motorola Mobile CEO, told financial analysts that the company had more than 17000 approved patents and 7500 patents under application.

The less patent reserves, the worse.

At the same time, Apple and Microsoft also formed a camp that defeated Google and bought thousands of patents from the bankrupt company Nortel. The deal was billed as the largest intellectual property transaction in the Internet age.

"The reality is that companies will shoulder more and more responsibility in the production process," he said. Colin said, "Companies like Google and Facebook, which have a big stake in the market, but have fewer proprietary reserves, will suffer." ”

Colin also said that the patent wars in the Internet market were not bad news for consumers, as companies would use the patents to develop more creative products. In addition, patent management may become one of the core competencies of start-up companies.