Nokia settles with HTC, adds to Patent War Chest

After two years of litigation in seven countries involving more than fifty of Nokia’s non-essential patents, Nokia announced a global settlement with HTC that should conclude all patent litigation between the two companies, but add to fears that Nokia is transforming itself into a formidable patent troll.

The announcement came this past Friday, just days after Nokia scored its fourth victory over HTC in a German court (three in the past two months) and days before the U.S. International Trade Commission was scheduled to review a preliminary ruling finding HTC infringed two of Nokia’s U.S. patents.

Although Nokia and HTC have a “long standing” agreement concerning licensing of Nokia’s patents that are deemed essential for practicing industry standards, Nokia has been battling with HTC over non-essential patents since Nokia fired the first shot in 2012, followed by victories in England, Wales, Munich, Mannheim and the U.S. Continue reading

Ten Tips for Successful Outbound Technology Licensing

In this age of endless corporate cost-cutting, it might seem the only way to compel a company to license ones technology is through litigation or threats of litigation. After all, why would a company agree to pay large sums of hard-earned dollars for the use of intangible property unless it absolutely has to?

Well, they do. While patent lawsuits grab the big headlines, plenty of licensing takes place without threats or coercion. Often it results from business discussions between willing participants. The licensor may be unwilling or unable to fully develop and commercialize its technology, while the licensee may believe use of the technology will generate increased revenue or other benefits that should outweigh the costs of licensing.

Take Microsoft, for example. They license out a variety of technologies that improve the performance of computers, monitors, keyboards and more. But, they hit a jackpot with their android patents, licensing their technology to cell phone manufacturers who paid more than $400 million in licensing revenue in 2012. Or consider IBM, Intel, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments, each generating roughly $1 billion in annual licensing revenue. Of course, those are extreme cases, but the point is licensing deals are often entered into not in response to litigation but as a strategic, mutually-beneficial business transaction.

Of course, it’s not easy locating potential licensing partners and convincing them that paying royalties makes business sense. In fact, it usually requires a great deal of work. But, technology licensing agreements are often negotiated as a business deal, with the licensor wielding a carrot not a stick, sparing both parties the stress and expense of litigation. I know, because my former employer, on several occasions, succeeded in doing the same.

Here are 10 tips intended to help your company out-license its technology through business means. Continue reading

Strategic Monetization of Patents

The value of all U.S. generated intellectual property is said to be approximately $5.5 trillion, equal to nearly 40% of the U.S. economy. From time to time that value is dramatically demonstrated, such as when Apple wins a $1 billion patent infringement verdict against Samsung, when Nortel sells a portfolio of patents for $4.5 billion, or when Google acquires Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion, to gain control of its patents.

However, for many companies the cost of obtaining and maintaining intellectual assets – in particular patents – may be a huge waste of corporate resources, either because the company files patents indiscriminately, without sufficient consideration for which technologies, markets and regions may be most deserving of investment, or because it fails to devise and implement a sound plan for monetization of the patents.

Monetization of a patent portfolio usually begins with an IP audit. Working with the company’s business units and engineers, one should evaluate the company’s patents and divide them into three or four categories: those which are presently being used by the company; those which are not being used, but might have value to others; and those which are not being used and appear to have little value. One may also distinguish between patents that relate to the company’s core v. non-core technologies. Continue reading