BlackBerry sells mobile patents to patent troll for $600M
BlackBerry has sold a collection of legacy patents covering mobile technologies for $600M, a deal that will likely result in increased legal drama for smartphone producers like Apple in the future.
Announced on Monday, BlackBerry has agreed to a patent sale agreement, which has the former smartphone giant handing over its non-core patent assets to Catapult IP Innovations for $600 million. The transaction will grant BlackBerry $450 million in cash and a promissory note for $150 million, as well as a license back for the patents.
The collection of patents relate to mobile devices, messaging, and wireless networking IPs. BlackBerry specifically says that the sale will not affect customers using its products or services.
While the assurance may be good for consumers, the deal may not be so fortuitous for tech firms in the mobile market.
Catapult IP Innovations is described by BlackBerry as "a Delaware company" that is a "special purpose vehicle formed to acquire the BlackBerry patent assets." The company is funded by a $450 million senior secure loan, which includes $400 million of "conditional commitments from a lending syndicate" led by Third Eye Capital.
BlackBerry's sale is to what could be considered a "Non-practicing entity," a company that doesn't earn revenue from product or services sales, but is more likely to do so through asset protection. Many refer to these sorts of entities as "patent trolls."
Since there's an expected return on investment, it is likely that the patents will be used to encourage royalty payments from device producers, potentially through lawsuits.
Blackberry's patents have been used to sue other companies in the past, such as legal action in March 2018 against Facebook over Facebook messenger.
Apple has also been a target of a patent lawsuit based on the work of Research in Motion, BlackBerry's former name. In 2019, Non-practicing entity Fundamental Innovation Systems accused Apple of infringing on multiple payments concerning USB charging and communication technologies.
The patent sale is conditional upon the satisfaction of regulatory conditions, including the U.S. Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act and the Investment Canada Act, which could take up to 210 days to complete.
Read on AppleInsider
Announced on Monday, BlackBerry has agreed to a patent sale agreement, which has the former smartphone giant handing over its non-core patent assets to Catapult IP Innovations for $600 million. The transaction will grant BlackBerry $450 million in cash and a promissory note for $150 million, as well as a license back for the patents.
The collection of patents relate to mobile devices, messaging, and wireless networking IPs. BlackBerry specifically says that the sale will not affect customers using its products or services.
While the assurance may be good for consumers, the deal may not be so fortuitous for tech firms in the mobile market.
Catapult IP Innovations is described by BlackBerry as "a Delaware company" that is a "special purpose vehicle formed to acquire the BlackBerry patent assets." The company is funded by a $450 million senior secure loan, which includes $400 million of "conditional commitments from a lending syndicate" led by Third Eye Capital.
BlackBerry's sale is to what could be considered a "Non-practicing entity," a company that doesn't earn revenue from product or services sales, but is more likely to do so through asset protection. Many refer to these sorts of entities as "patent trolls."
Since there's an expected return on investment, it is likely that the patents will be used to encourage royalty payments from device producers, potentially through lawsuits.
Blackberry's patents have been used to sue other companies in the past, such as legal action in March 2018 against Facebook over Facebook messenger.
Apple has also been a target of a patent lawsuit based on the work of Research in Motion, BlackBerry's former name. In 2019, Non-practicing entity Fundamental Innovation Systems accused Apple of infringing on multiple payments concerning USB charging and communication technologies.
The patent sale is conditional upon the satisfaction of regulatory conditions, including the U.S. Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act and the Investment Canada Act, which could take up to 210 days to complete.
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
That is, literally, what this organization says that they're going to do.
Selling IP is how a lot of companies (including little guys) get paid for their work. And they need to sell it to a big enough entity that can afford to protect the IP. A small garage outfit or individual engineer doesn't have the resources to be able to protect their very legit IP they invent.
Calling them "trolls" is just a way to create bias in the reader
But Apple's IP? The hard-earned result of decades of expert engineering. No one should be able to use it or any version of it under any terms or circumstances. Apple should be encouraged to come out with their own versions of competitors' products because said products are generic and bad anyway and Apple improves them in ways that are useful to consumers and the industry. But anyone who comes out with a version of Apple's products, even if the implementation is completely different AND there are major differences in design, appearance and functionality? Block them from being manufactured and sold. Sue the companies that did it to the hilt - and their managers and investors into financial ruin - as a warning message to everyone else.
A rational perspective - such as the fact that Blackberry deserves to be compensated for the IP that they developed even if the only method of doing so is by selling it and that the owners of any IP have every right to license it - is beyond what Apple diehards are capable of. Instead, they want an IP system that maximizes the benefit to Apple and screws everybody else, even if the obvious result is no one - including Apple - having any incentive to innovate.
Of what am I speaking? Specifically about chips or other electronic modules that use a specific IP and the maker of the chip/module pays for a license. The buyers of the chip, as long as their use of the IP is completely through the facilities of the licensed chip /module, shouldn't be required to get their own license. However, that is how a lit of these suits come to pass. The IP holder demands both the chip maker and the chip users get licenses. They shouldn't be able to demand a user of a licensed product. Reds their own license as long as their use of the IP is completely through the ise of the licensed chip /module. IP holders shouldn't be able to double dip
Apple should have really bought these patents because they actually make iPhones. BlackBerry most likely intentionally said “f*** you! Deal with this troll forever, Apple!”
This is not hard to understand folks.