Intel Buys $375 Million Worth of InterDigital Patents

San Diego – Intel recently acquired 1,700 patents from InterDigital’s wireless technology intellectual property portfolio. The purchase essentially saved InterDigital as it had been rumored to closing its doors altogether. In February InterDigital had stated that it was eager to sell the bulk of its patents and it was on the lookout for a buyer.

While many electronics companies have jumped on the bandwagon of creating smartphones and tablets, Intel has watched from afar. Until this year that is when it introduced the first Intel-based smartphone to the market in India which has been widely successful. According to reports, with the acquisition of InterDigital’s patents and patent applications Intel may now begin to transition into the U.S. smartphone market.

Doug Melamed, Intel senior vice president and general counsel, recently made a statement regarding the patent purchase stating, “These patents will support Intel’s strategic investments in the mobile segment. The addition of these patents expands our already large, strong and diverse portfolio of intellectual property.”

As Melamed stated, Intel is continuing its success in making successful transitions as it is preparing for the release of the new Microsoft operating system, Windows 8. Just as Intel’s intellectual property portfolio has continued to expand so has its relationship with Windows. We can expect to see more of ‘Wintel’ as the new Windows 8 operating system is expected to be released later this year.

As for InterDigital, its senior executive vice president of strategy and finance Scott McQuilkin stated of the purchase, “the acquisition of this portfolio of InterDigital’s technologies by a global technology leader like Intel affirms the efforts of our research and development team which actively shares our innovations with the worldwide standards bodies, defining technologies that are central to the world’s major wireless systems and devices” and “this transaction, which involves a small portion of our overall patent portfolio, marks an important milestone of InterDigital’s stated strategy of expanding the monetization of its large and growing intellectual property portfolio. By executing on our business plan, which has been broadened to include patent sales, licensing partnerships and other possibilities, we see tremendous potential to expand revenue and build shareholder value.”