Katie Marsal
One high-profile acquisition target profiled by Bloomberg on Tuesdsay is InterDigital, which owns patents related to high-speed mobile phone networks. Last week, the company said it has hired banks to explore a potential sale, and since then it has gained $1.4 billion in value to $3.2 billion.
But an acquisition of the Pennsylvania-based company may cost more than $5 billion, and potential buyers could pay a 50 percent premium to secure the company's portfolio of 8,800 patents.
InterDigital is seen as the next major target after Apple led a consortium of companies, including Microsoft and Research in Motion, to buy Nortel Networks' patent portfolio for $4.5 billion. Apple paid the lion's share of that sum, contributing $2.6 billion in the acquisition.
The final $4.5 billion selling price was a fivefold increase from the initial bid made by Google. Officials with the search giant have declined to say whether they plan to bid on InterDigital, but the company's general counsel, Kent Walker, said on Monday that he believes patents are "government-granted monopolies" that stifle innovation.
At $4.5 billion, the Nortel patents sale was the biggest in history, Walker said. If InterDigital were to hit its projected, inflated $5 billion selling price, it would be an even larger sale.
Bloomberg said about 15 percent of InterDigital's patents are related to data transfer on mobile phones. Some believe the patents could be more valuable than those auctioned off by Nortel, because InterDigital's portfolio reportedly has more 4G-related wireless patents.
Patent ownership has become a major concern in the wireless industry as lawsuits between competitors have continued to mount. Earlier this month, a judge with the U.S. International Trade Commission made a preliminary ruling in favor of Apple against rival HTC. The presumed violation of two patents has been projected to earn Apple a high royalty rate from the sale of Android-powered devices.
Apple and Finnish handset maker Nokia also had an ongoing legal battle with the ITC, in which the commission's staff sided with Nokia in a preliminary review. Apple and Nokia opted to settle out of court, and Apple is now a licensee of Nokia's patents for an undisclosed ongoing fee.
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33 Comments
I realize that Apple is terrified of suing Google directly. That's why all these proxy wars are all up ons.
But honestly, I just want them to get it done and be done about it. Enough ruining of other companies is going on already. We don't need the entire tech world taken down around us.
Apple's the U.S. and Google is the Soviet Union. Samsung's Korea (obviously) and everyone else sued in this vein are all the other countries over which we had proxy wars during the Cold War.
Microsoft is Britain: a large power basically staying neutral in the whole thing, waiting it out to see who wins.
The Sun never sets on the Blue Screen of Death.
I realize that Apple is terrified of suing Google directly. That's why all these proxy wars are all up ons.
But honestly, I just want them to get it done and be done about it. Enough ruining of other companies is going on already. We don't need the entire tech world taken down around us.
Apple's the U.S. and Google is the Soviet Union. Samsung's Korea (obviously) and everyone else sued in this vein are all the other countries over which we had proxy wars during the Cold War.
It's unclear what remedy Apple could get against Google. I think they'd almost have to go after them in court and not in the ITC, and by the time Google looked like losing, which might take years, they could just open source the final version of Android and Apple would still be left having to sue OEMs one by one. The most Apple can get off Google is money, and it wants market share.
Apple is also supply constrained so it makes more sense for them to kill off the Android OEMs one by one.
Hey! We were NATO stalwarts! Microsoft could be France perhaps, or Italy, or maybe China.
Terrified of suing Google? Apple? Based on what? Having seen Google execs mentioning the war, I would say they are the worried party. If they can't lay their hands on some patents soon they will face some problems. Either partners using Android will stop since they realize they will be in a mess otherwise or Google will have to truly step up and be part of the defense. With no patents to bargain with, it may very well go down to be expensive. Or impossible.
My guess is that companies like Ericsson, Nokia and Sony prefer playing in the same team as Apple (patent-wize) since they all respect patents and have patents to license and/or exchange. They are all the type of companies who has made their fortune by investing billions in research and development. This they will newer just let go of. However they do all have common foes: Google, Chinese copy cats and others who simply just do refuse to pay for patented ideas. Or even tries to compete with and crush companies by copying their ideas in front of a advertising alter.
I realize that Apple is terrified of suing Google directly. That's why all these proxy wars are all up ons.
But honestly, I just want them to get it done and be done about it. Enough ruining of other companies is going on already. We don't need the entire tech world taken down around us.
Apple's the U.S. and Google is the Soviet Union. Samsung's Korea (obviously) and everyone else sued in this vein are all the other countries over which we had proxy wars during the Cold War.
Microsoft is Britain: a large power basically staying neutral in the whole thing, waiting it out to see who wins.
Terrified of suing Google? Apple? Based on what?
Based on the fact that the last time Apple tried to protect their OS software's intellectual property, they lost to the thief and had to spend two decades with 4% of their original 100% marketshare.