In our continued coverage of the ridesharing industry, Envision IP recently analyzed Uber and Lyft’s patent portfolios. Since our last review in December 2015, the company has significantly increased its patent holdings via both acquisitions and organic filings. Uber currently owns 144 US patents, sparked in part by a major acquisition of 66 patents and […]
The growing legalization of medical marijuana across the United States has led to a boom in various companies that support all aspects of the industry. Technological advances in the medical marijuana range from proprietary hybrid strains of cannabis, to clean and efficient growing systems, software-based analytics and monitoring, and packaging and distribution infrastructure. Vice News reported […]
TechCrunch reported today that Fitbit will be acquiring Pebble Technology Corporation (Pebble) for approximately $40 million. The deal will provide Fitbit with Pebble’s operating system, platform, and intellectual property. Envision IP analyzed Pebble’s patent portfolio to determine its extent and scope, as well as to determine if any of Pebble’s proprietary technologies would complement or add to […]
Samsung announced today its acquisition of Harman International Industries for approximately $8.0 billion. Harman is a leading manufacturer of audio and visual systems, connected vehicle technologies, enterprise automation, and connected services. The company owns numerous brands, including AKG Acoustics, AMX, Crown Audio, Bang & Olufsen Automotive, Harman/Kardon, Infinity, JBL, Lexicon, Mark Levinson, and others. Many […]
Snapchat released its first hardware product earlier this week – wearable video-glasses coined “Spectacles”. The announcement caught many analysts by surprise, as the move shows Snapchat extending offerings beyond its traditional smartphone platform. Envision IP reported this past May that Snapchat had acquired a number of patents from IBM recently. The company currently owns 280 US patents, with 245 having […]
With the recent headlines made by its Pokémon Go smartphone app, Nintendo’s gaming efforts are being revitalized, and the company is demonstrating a shift from its traditional hardware focus into software. Envision IP analyzed Nintendo’s patent portfolio to see if and how the company is protecting its augmented- and mixed- reality technologies which power titles such as Pokémon Go. […]
We last reported on Twitter’s patenting efforts back in 2013, when the company had announced its patent pledge. At the time, Twitter owned only two issued patents. Since then, the company’s patent portfolio has grown tremendously, thanks mostly in part to Twitter’s acquisition of over 900 patents from IBM in 2014. The IBM patent acquisition was a […]
The secretive electric vehicle company Faraday Future unveiled its first vehicle concept today at CES in Las Vegas. The vehicle is an all-electric supercar named FFZERO1. Faraday Future was founded in 2014, and it has been in stealth mode ever since inception. The Chinese-backed company has not provided much detail around how it plans to take […]
Last week, Yahoo announced that it would pursue a spinoff of its core Internet business, while leaving its Alibaba stock in the old company. Yahoo in recent years has made a push to expand its footprint in the mobile advertising space, in an effort to compete with Google’s monetization platform. The company has also made a […]
Less than a year ago, Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp. closed a $1.1 billion round of funding, valuing the company at over $45 billion. While Xiaomi is known for its smartphones, the company also has a number of service-oriented business lines, from mobile gaming and entertainment, to electronic payments. Given the immense valuation of the company, […]
