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After collaborating with patent buying company Intellectual Ventures to purchase Kodak patents in 2012, Apple is now rebuffing offers by IV to invest in is latest patent acquisition fund, reports Reuters. Though both Apple and Intel have declined to participate, rivals Microsoft and Sony have been persuaded to contribute to a new round of patent buying.
"Microsoft and Sony's investments give IV a fresh war chest to buy new patents," said Kevin Jakel, chief executive of Unified Patents, which advises tech companies on alternatives to patent aggregators like IV.
Intellectual Ventures is one of the top five patent owners in the U.S. and has a portfolio of over 70,000 patents and intellectual property assets. The company has raised $6 billion for patents and is courting investors like Apple to raise an additional $3 billion.

Intellectual-Ventures-logo.jpg
Microsoft, Sony, Apple and Intel have invested in Intellectual Ventures in the past, giving them access to IV's patent holdings and a portion of the royalties it collects. Apple didn't comment on its recent decision not to invest in IV, but one intellectual property expert believes it is not related to the company's recent efforts to influence patent legislation in the U.S.
"Amy Landers, an intellectual property professor at University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law, said Apple and Intel's decision on IV's latest fund was probably unrelated to the political debate on patent reform.
"The companies that are not investing in the fund have probably just found better uses for their money," Landers said.

Apple recently joined the new Partnership for American Innovation, a patent reform lobbying group that includes DuPont, Ford, General Electric, IBM, Microsoft and Pfizer. The group is opposing recent patent reform legislation that they claim may hurt actual innovations that need patent protection.

Article Link: Apple Declines to Invest in Intellectual Ventures' Patent Buying Fund
 

rekhyt

macrumors 65816
Jun 20, 2008
1,127
78
Part of the old MR guard.
Smart.

Any involvement by Apple in such a venture (with the use of patents as an offensive weapon, seeking to license or deliberately hinder competition, as opposed to defensive ('stealing'/taking 'heavy inspiration' from competitors) capability.) would be disastrous in terms of higher moral ground in the courts.
 

3282868

macrumors 603
Jan 8, 2009
5,281
0
It sickens me that a company profits by sitting on patents. It's just as bad as the trolls who buy up numerous online sites and hold on to them, selling them for ridiculous amounts. It's lazy and benefits no one.
 

Klae17

macrumors 65816
Jul 15, 2011
1,226
1,576
It sickens me that a company profits by sitting on patents. It's just as bad as the trolls who buy up numerous online sites and hold on to them, selling them for ridiculous amounts. It's lazy and benefits no one.

No it's called business. I buy stocks in hopes of a good ROI, a dividend or rise in prices. Buy a house and rent it out then sell it later. Buy low sell high. Franchises. Real estate. Why not patents?
 

Michael Goff

Suspended
Jul 5, 2012
13,329
7,421
Smart.

Any involvement by Apple in such a venture (with the use of patents as an offensive weapon, seeking to license or deliberately hinder competition, as opposed to defensive ('stealing'/taking 'heavy inspiration' from competitors) capability.) would be disastrous in terms of higher moral ground in the courts.

They have the moral high ground in courts?
 

jayducharme

macrumors 601
Jun 22, 2006
4,516
5,935
The thick of it
Apple bought in on the Kodak patents because those are relevant to Apple's business. I'm glad Apple bought what they needed and has no interest in supporting a patent troll.
 

theanimaster

macrumors 6502
Oct 7, 2005
319
14
I almost thought this was the same patent troll that was suing iPhone and Android developers left and right in the past... hmmm what was the name of that company..
 

Glassed Silver

macrumors 68020
Mar 10, 2007
2,096
2,567
Kassel, Germany
It sickens me that a company profits by sitting on patents. It's just as bad as the trolls who buy up numerous online sites and hold on to them, selling them for ridiculous amounts. It's lazy and benefits no one.

Factually incorrect, it does benefit the hoarder.

Sorry, in a smartypants mood this morning...

Glassed Silver:mac
 

0007776

Suspended
Jul 11, 2006
6,473
8,170
Somewhere
It sickens me that a company profits by sitting on patents. It's just as bad as the trolls who buy up numerous online sites and hold on to them, selling them for ridiculous amounts. It's lazy and benefits no one.

We definitely need changes to how patents are done, but this seems like a group of companies buying patents together and then setting up a company to hold them which I think is a bit better than just one company owning them.
 

dysamoria

macrumors 68020
Dec 8, 2011
2,243
1,865
It sickens me that a company profits by sitting on patents. It's just as bad as the trolls who buy up numerous online sites and hold on to them, selling them for ridiculous amounts. It's lazy and benefits no one.

Agreed. Welcome to unrestrained capitalist greed and speculation. Ethics has no place in capitalism, right? "The only ethical system" my ass.

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No it's called business. I buy stocks in hopes of a good ROI, a dividend or rise in prices. Buy a house and rent it out then sell it later. Buy low sell high. Franchises. Real estate. Why not patents?

Yeah, the defense of unethical and society-destroying (market-destroying) behaviors by way of calling them "business". Why not patents? Because it defeats the entire point of patent law!! The system is so beyond broken.
 

fredaroony

macrumors 6502a
Aug 1, 2011
670
0
Smart.

Any involvement by Apple in such a venture (with the use of patents as an offensive weapon, seeking to license or deliberately hinder competition, as opposed to defensive ('stealing'/taking 'heavy inspiration' from competitors) capability.) would be disastrous in terms of higher moral ground in the courts.

Rockstar...

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Apple bought in on the Kodak patents because those are relevant to Apple's business. I'm glad Apple bought what they needed and has no interest in supporting a patent troll.

They became one when they joined Rockstar
 
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