Newport Beach-based Acacia Research Corp. said Tuesday it moved its patent licensing unit to Texas.
The unit, dubbed Acacia Research Group LLC, has relocated its headquarters to Frisco, Texas.
The group does “business development and licensing activities of patent portfolios in a wide range of technology disciplines,” the company said.
The company makes money by acquiring patents, striking licensing deals and collecting a cut of royalties from companies that appear to be infringing on them.
Acacia started out offering patent enforcement services to small companies, medical research groups, hospitals and universities for a fee.
These days it’s seeing large technology, biotechnology and other patent-heavy companies sign on for its services.
The company counts some 170 patent portfolios.
Acacia, run by a group of executives, lawyers, engineers and patent researchers, mostly works with smaller companies to buy their patents and then searches for those it suspects of infringing on them for potential licensing deals or lawsuits.
When it finds a company suspected to be infringing on a patent, it tries to strike a licensing deal, or sues. It makes money by splitting the proceeds with the patent holder.
Because Acacia doesn’t make any products and licenses technologies it doesn’t design, it is known in tech and legal circles as a “nonpracticing entity.”
Critics peg the company as a “patent troll”—or someone who uses patent law to shake down unsuspecting companies.
Acacia views itself as a champion of the underdog, helping small companies, especially those without massive legal resources, to get paid for their technologies
In the past few months, the company has struck licensing deals with Microsoft Corp., Vizio Inc. and NEC Corp., among many other smaller players.
Acacia got its start as a venture capital firm based in Pasadena in the late 1990s. It got into the patent licensing business through one of the companies it invested in.
Acacia moved to Newport Beach in 2001, officially kicking off its licensing business.
The company sees yearly revenue of about $140 million and had a recent market value of $902 million.
