RIM granted access to Intellectual Ventures’ treasure trove of patents

By on Mar 30, 2011 at 11:21 PM
Business March 30, 2011

Research In Motion has reached an agreement with Intellectual Ventures that will provide the Canadian BlackBerry manufacturer with access to the company’s library of over 30,000 patents. With other technology giants engaged in a seemingly endless loop of lawsuits , RIM is hoping to provide itself legal cover for future smartphone innovations by purchasing the rights to this war chest of intellectual property. “Intellectual Ventures offers an efficient way to access the invention rights companies need to stay competitive within the market,” said Mario Obeidat, Intellectual Ventures’ head of telecom licensing. The patent holding company was founded by former Microsoft CTO, Nathan Myhrvoid, in 2000, and boasts both Samsung and HTC as its other high-profile, mobile clients. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

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  • Anonymous

    Serious question….how significant is this? Especially considering it’s RIM, and they’re trailing iOS and Android in terms of software/products.

    • Anonymous

      yes im also confused, what relevance does this have?

  • fourrings

    Patent-troll protection. Remember the SCO Unix lawsuits against companies using Linux? SCO at that point was nothing but a bunch of lawyers attempting to make money by settling with companies who they claim have violated their patent. Intellectual Ventures does the same thing, however, they have purchased or represent the owners of tens of thousands of patents. RIM will pay them a ton of money and “boom”, instant indemnification from lawsuits for any product or service they put out that could possible infringe on a mobile-based patent.

  • BigC

    It’s sad that this is what an entire business can be based on these days

  • http://www.facebook.com/bardocksan Nicholas Belcourt

    this is very good news indeed! Another big win for RIM!

    • edoug

      I’m not sure that RIM paying money ahead of a lawsuit is a good thing, I’m lazy today: can anyone reference the success rate of this group v. the big design/manufacturers? Surely this could’t be the first time RIM faces problems from them, whats behind the move now that makes this “indemnity” worthwhile?

    • Anonymous

      While I agree this is good news, but I bet this is “NOT” Jim’s idea.

  • http://www.facebook.com/brettmlewis Brett Lewis

    What is the picture of?

    • SideshowDave

      Some scary looking fingernails…

  • Max

    They’re gonna need it. Those ‘geniuses’ at RIMjob can only think of ‘Curve’ for the past 200 years. And it’s been the same for the past 200 years, also. Riding on the tech-idiocy of morons who purchase their ancient products.

    • Anonymous

      cause ios has changed plenty since its release in 2007 lol, go play on the highway pal

      • max

        If you introduce an advanced OS in 2007, you’re still ahead of the game. Rimjob brings 1994 tech out in 2011 and you morons eat it up. I got a bridge to sell you, moron.

      • Anonymous

        Maybe if you actually took a look at the rim os, you’ll see how much its changed, especially in the last 2 years. Admittedly, its still outdated. However, so is your precious ios, only difference is, I can admit it. You got your head so far up steve jobs ass that you can’t taken in info and process it yourself, you need some else to tell you what to think.

        And we eat it up cause its reliable, and provides unmatched security, unlike ios, which, as of last week was hacked hundreds of times on numerous celebrities phones. But hey, you got apps, lots and lots of (pointless) apps.

      • JOHNWHT944

        wow …name calling for no apparent reason. someone’s mommy did’nt love them.To each his own. if people like blackberry , why insult them? Why does thst anger you? why not just go slap a puppy or something? They are a multi million dollar company…whether YOU buy a blackberry or not.

  • RealDeal

    I hate patent trolls

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Megan-DeLuccia/100000569427958 Megan DeLuccia

     Intellectual Ventures’ Nathan Myhrvold told Business Week in July
    2006 that he didn’t think suing people was a good idea. Apparently, his
    investors – including universities receiving government funding, private equity
    funds, and corporations – decided that his returns were not coming fast enough.
    Or maybe, he was just marketing one story on his way to his real business plan.
    Back in 2006, his position was summarized in the following manner.

    “Myhrvold adamantly rejects the idea that suing people will
    become a mainstay of his business operation. “Litigation is a huge
    failure,” he says. It’s “a disastrous way of monetizing
    patents.”

    Times have changed. However, M·CAM’s
    commitment to patent quality is as clear today as it was when he and his
    investors first started Intellectual Ventures. And, given Intellectual
    Ventures’ recent cases, we thought the public may want to know a bit more about
    what’s ‘under the hood’.

    Today M·CAM, Inc. released its Patently Obvious® report today on
    the patent infringement lawsuits filed by Intellectual Ventures in December,
    2010.

    The M·CAM Patently
    Obvious® report on Intellectual Ventures’ infringement lawsuits can be found HERE.

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