Patent trolls fight as Mosaid rebuffs Wi-LAN takeover
updated 12:05 pm EDT, Thu August 18, 2011
Mosaid tells shareholders to ignore Wi-LAN offer
An offer of $480 CAD million ($490 million) by patent troll Wi-LAN directly to the shareholders of Mosaid Technologies, a similar company, has been proposed on Wednesday. Mosaid asked its shareholders on Thursday to ignore the offer, however, according to a recent report. Mosaid rejected an earlier, more direct offer from Wi-LAN.
A takeover would create a firm with global scope, while companies want to build up their technology patent portfolios, Mosaid stated after the first offer. In a brief statement, Mosaid simply said it is evaluating the offer and will respond in "due course."
Back in March, Mosaid sued Dell, RIM and other tech companies for allegedly on patents it holds. The practice is becoming more common, along with buying out companies mainly to own key patents. A very visible recent example is Google's $12.5 billion buyout of Motorola.
Wi-LAN is slowly cashing in on its Wi-Fi patent lawsuit against Apple, 2Wire, Belkin, Lenovo, Marvell, Netgear, D-Link, HP, Sony, Dell, Toshiba and Westell that dates back to 2007. It also has a lawsuit related to Bluetooth technology that targets Apple, LG, Dell, Sony and a number of other companies.
Neither Wi-LAN nor Mosaid use the majority of patents they own in hardware, but instead rely on licensing or suing companies that allegedly infringe on these patents. While the two are slightly better in having been practicing entities at least once, they fit the classic definition of patent trolls in having few if any relevant products.
