Posted on Friday, August 10 2012 @ 18:00 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
DailyTech
reports Nokia has sold 500 patents to Vringo for $22 million. Found in 2006 as a mobile software firm, these days Vringo aims to make money by suing other companies. Lawsuits will be flying around soon, as Vringo said it was eager to soon start a campaign of lawsuits and force companies to cough up licensing fees.
Nokia sold the patents to Vringo. Vringo was founded in 2006 as a mobile software firm, and has specialized in delivering content to mobile devices. However, in 2012 it switched gears, merging with Innovate/Protect Inc. a notorious patent monger/non-practicing entity (NPE). That company in 2011 successfully sued Google Inc. (GOOG), AOL, IAC/InterActive Corp. (IACI), Gannett Comp. (GCI), and Target Corp. (TGT), among others, using a pair of patents acquired from near-defunct search site Lycos.
Of the 500 patents handed to the "troll", 109 are U.S. patents. And just to eliminate any ambiguity, Vringo said it was eager to soon start on a campaign of lawsuits and forced licensing.
The NPE estimates it could make $31.2M USD from Nokia's patents, almost a 50 percent return on its investment.
