Purchase price and specific patent numbers not known
Qualcomm this afternoon announced that it has acquired some 2,400 patents and patent applications from HP and what’s left of Palm Inc., which HP picked up in 2010. Qualcomm says 1,400 of those were in the U.S., with the additional thousand coming from other countries.
The newly acquired portfolio, Qualcomm says, “covers technologies that include fundamental mobile operating system techniques.” In addition to patents from Palm, the portfolio also includes IPAQ (one of the earliest precursors to the modern-day smartphone), and Bitfone, an over-the-air update service HP purchased in 2006.
Palm has long had a respected patent portfolio, even after its smartphone business went belly-up. As one of the founding companies of the smartphone revolution, it holds many foundational patents, including gems like “Integrated Handheld Computing and Telephony System and Services,” i.e. smartphone. Along with Motorola, Nokia, BlackBerry, Palm’s patents comprise the basis of what modern smartphones are build off of.
Qualcomm is a major manufacturer of smartphone processing platforms — especially in the Android space — alongside the likes of Intel and NVIDIA. Terms of the purchase were not released.
Qualcomm’s full statement is after the break.
Source: Qualcomm
SAN DIEGO, Jan. 23, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) and HP today announced that Qualcomm Incorporated has acquired a patent portfolio from Hewlett-Packard Company, Hewlett-Packard Development Co LP and Palm Inc. The portfolio, comprising approximately 1,400 granted patents and pending patent applications from the US and approximately 1,000 granted patents and pending patent applications from other countries, covers technologies that include fundamental mobile operating system techniques. The acquisition further enhances the strength and diversity of Qualcomm Incorporated’s industry-leading mobile patent portfolio and will enable the company to offer even more value to current and future licensees. The purchase price was not publicly disclosed.