Having just spent US$2.91 billion to buy Motorola from Google in January, Lenovo opened the purse strings again this week to acquire a number of Unwired Planet mobile patents. In all, it bought 21 patent families covering 3G, LTE and “other important” mobile technologies from Unwired Planet, a company that bills itself as the “the inventor of the Mobile Internet.” The […]
Patents and trademarks
Samsung and Google sign 10-year global patent license agreement
Samsung and Google today announced a new 10-year global patent cross-license agreement that will cover a broad range of technologies and business areas. It gives both companies access to to each other’s patent portfolios and will focus on deeper collaboration between the two companies “on research and development of current and future products and technologies.” “This agreement with Google is […]
Qualcomm acquires Palm and iPAQ patents from Hewlett-Packard
Qualcomm today announced that it has acquired some 2,400 mobile technology patents and patent applications from Hewlett-Packard. About 1,400 of those cover patents and pending patent applications from the U.S. while the remainder are from other countries. They include “fundamental mobile operating system techniques” from various mobile eras at HP, including its iPAQ handheld foray and its brief jaunt into […]
Could the LG G3 sport a multifunctional backside button?
A new patent filing suggests that LG is not done with the rear-mounted buttons it introduced with the LG G2. On LG’s current flagship smartphone, the buttons work as volume controls and can also launch QuickMemo and the camera when they are long-pressed. On a future device, the button functions could depend on the app that is currently running, allowing […]
LG working on Glasstic smart glasses?
While smartwatches are garnering much of the attention in the emerging field of wearable devices, Google Glass has proven that there is more than one body part that can be outfitted with a device. While more companies appear to be working on smartwatches, it’s clear that Google is not alone to be working on smart glasses. A USPTO (United States […]
Hewlett-Packard looking to sell mobile patents?
While our coverage has focused a lot on struggling BlackBerry and HTC, another company looking to turn its fortunes around is Hewlett-Packard. Still the world’s second-largest maker of personal computers, CEO Meg Whitman is trying to transform the company into one better suited for today’s markets. According to Bloomberg, HP is shopping its mobile computing patents around to improve its […]
BlackBerry’s 9,000 patents worth up to US$5 billion
BlackBerry this week announced that it was kicking off an “exploration of strategic alternatives” that could see the company get sold off, enter into a strategic partnership or joint venture as well as other outcomes (including maintaining status quo). With a global market share that has plummeted to single digits and sales that show no sign of turning around, what could […]
Samsung flexible display patent hints at future devices
Samsung has already said that it intends to launch smartphones with flexible displays as early as this year. Last week, it confirmed that flexible display production will start later this year, suggesting that we may have to wait until next year to see devices using them. While we wait, a new Samsung patent reveals how the company plans to use […]