The future of the non-practicing entity business model as it currently exists is uncertain. With many headwinds facing NPEs, including AIA provisions for IPR and CBM invalidity proceedings, state and proposed federal legislation aimed at aggressive NPE tactics, and the limited scope and viability of business methods patents after the Supreme Court’s decision in Alice […]
After Fitbit, Inc.’s successful IPO last week, the company is reportedly focused on increasing its product and services offerings by investing in research and development. Envision IP reviewed the US patent portfolios of Fitbit and Jawbone to understand how the two companies are protecting the innovations stemming from their R&D investments. The result is surprising, […]
The topic of financial services patents was a focus of discussion during a panel moderated by Bruce Berman of Brody Berman Associates during this year’s IP Business Congress in San Francisco. The panelists included Michael Chernoff of MDB Capital Group, Andrew Ramer from Cantor Fitzgerald, and Sean Reilly of The Clearing House Payments Company. Each panelist […]
For the last two years, Envision IP has published annual stock performance analysis of publicly traded patent holding companies (also known as Non-Practicing Entities, or NPEs). Our first analysis included data from 2008 to 2012, and it showed impressive gains by many NPEs, with the majority of companies that we reviewed beating the S&P 500 by […]
Lycos, Inc., the former Internet search and web portal pioneer, announced yesterday that it is seeking a sale of its patent portfolio. The company which sold for $12.5 billion in 2000, most recently was acquired by India-based Ybrant Digital in 2010 for $36 million. Lycos is not a stranger to divesting patents, as the company previously sold […]
In April, Nokia announced plans to acquire Alcatel-Lucent in a deal valued at $16.6 billion. At the same time, the company announced plans to divest its mapping division, which operates under the HERE brand. In recent days, media reports have indicated that Nokia may well hold on to the mapping division, while most recently, Uber […]
On Tuesday, Nokia announced an all-stock deal to acquire Alcatel-Lucent that valued the French company at around $16.6 billion. While the purchase price was a significant premium over Alcatel-Lucent’s share price, it is not clear if Nokia paid a premium to acquire Alcatel-Lucent’s patent portfolio. Based on a high level analysis using Alcatel-Lucent’s most recent […]
Envision IP reviewed IBM’s patent assignment data since 1991 to get an idea of which companies have acquired IBM patents, and how those patents have subsequently been utilized by the new owners.
Uber announced that is will be acquiring mapping technology company deCarta. According to TechCruch, deCarta “provides a range of location and map services, including in-map search, location APIs, turn-by-turn navigation and more.” The location based services (LBS) space related to mobile and mapping integration is heavily crowded in terms of patents. Companies such as Nokia, Microsoft, Sony, […]
Under Armour Incorporated announced yesterday its acquisition of mobile fitness applications Myfitnesspal and Endomondo. These acquisitions follow Under Armour’s purchase of MapMyFitness in 2013. With the increasing popularity of wearable devices and mobile fitness and nutrition-related applications, it appears that Under Armour will be expanding its offerings in this space.
