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8232;"I want to spend more time on prototyping, on exploring, on research and development," Heins said. Meanwhile, Apple and Andro ...
Apple transferred patents to an outside company that is used them to sue several Android phone makers, underscoring the iPhone maker’s challenge to stop its rival’s momentum.
Virginia-based Digitude Innovations has filed suit with the International Trade Commission, alleging patent infringement from several technology companies including HTC, LG, Motorola, Samsung, Sony, Amazon and Research in Motion, but not Apple. Digitude received the patents in questions after Apple transferred them over to another company, which then transferred them to Digitude.
Digitude is one of many companies that buy patents in hope of collecting licensing fees through them. Patent holders often attempt to open up negotiations with companies, and sometimes will file claims against companies over patents in question.
Most tech firms will come to a settlement in such cases rather than deal with drawn-out court trials that can be far more expensive. Though courts don’t typically order product bans, companies such as Digitude sometimes threaten to block sales to force a settlement.
The patent holder likely filed its case with the ITC, rather than with courts, because the regulator can come to a quick decision and possibly block a product’s import before a legal challenge is finished.
Both Apple and Digitude declined to comment, but analysts are mulling two situations: suggesting either Apple is using Digitude to go after patent royalties, or that Digitude went after Apple and the Cupertino, Calif.-based company settled by offering up the patents.
Apple does not hesitate to go after companies it believes infringes on its patents on its own, including worldwide battles in more than 10 countries against its top rival, Samsung, showing it hasn’t previously depended on patent companies like Digitude to fight its battles.
Meanwhile, Digitude denies that it is a so-called “patent troll,” a term used for a company that buys up patents and uses them to force settlements from tech companies.
According to a Forbes Magazine article this summer, Digitude said it is “a new kind of patent investment vehicle because it seeks to team up with strategic players that can invest in Digitude not with money, but by contributing patents. The contributing entity would then get a license for all of Digitude’s patents.”
Digitude last spring said it formed a partnership “with one of the world’s leading consumer electronics companies,” according to TechCrunch. Other companies have also invested, says Digitude, and will all receive part of the proceeds when licensing agreements start coming in.
Digitude’s ITC claims include two patents that Apple owned earlier this year, before they were transferred to a company called Cliff Island, which then transferred them to Digitude Innovations.
Regardless of the depth of Apple’s involvement with Digitude, the intellectual property company likely will continue to use Apple’s former patents — plus others it can snap up from various tech businesses — to go after licensing settlements.
Want the scoop on mobile news? Subscribe to our Facebook or Twitter page. This post originally appeared at Mobiledia.