Patent court battles have become a staple within the world of tech lately with companies such as Nokia and Apple locking horns, as well as Microsoft suing Barnes & Noble (B&N) and its device manufacturers. A common outcome is for companies to enter into a patent agreement, for example Samsung Electronics and IBM’s patent agreement and Intel and Nvidia’s new patent deal.

 

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) has entered into its own licence agreement with Intellectual Ventures (IV), which possesses one of the biggest patent portfolios in the industry.

 

This agreement gives RIM access to IV’s wide-ranging patent portfolio of north of 30 000 IP (intellectual property) assets. As an IV licensee, RIM will be enabled with the right to use additional products and services in order to address short- as well as long-term IP-related matters. Whilst the Canadian company will, as an IV client, be able to complement its own patent portfolio with access to IV’s portfolio.

 

“Intellectual Ventures offers an efficient way to access the invention rights companies need to stay competitive within the market,” said Mario Obeidat, head of telecommunications licensing at Intellectual Ventures.

 

“RIM has always been an innovator on the forefront of the mobile communications world, and by becoming a licensing customer of IV, they can have access to a broader set of patents to assist them in the management of their IP-related business matters.”

 

This move by RIM will likely also strengthen its position in the patent battle it is currently involved in. Kodak is suing both RIM and Apple to get royalty payments from both manufacturers that relate to its patents on image preview software used in camera phones.

 

Kodak successfully took on (via the ITC) Samsung and LG and obtained $550 million and $414 million purportedly over the same patents that it’s now taking Apple and RIM to court.