Newport Beach-based Acacia Research Corp. is moving its patent licensing unit to Texas.
The unit, dubbed Acacia Research Group LLC, will be based in Frisco, Texas, a suburb of Dallas.
The firm’s acquisitions unit will remain here.
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 is run by a group of executives, lawyers, engineers and patent researchers, and mostly works with smaller companies. It buys 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 a company who uses patent law to shake down other 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 on behalf of smaller companies and individual inventors with Irvine-based TV marketer Vizio Inc, Microsoft and NEC Corp., among others.
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.
Burnishing Broadcom Brand
Another day, another nod for a Broadcom Corp. engineer.
Frank van Diggelen, senior technical director of Broadcom’s global navigation system division, has been recognized by the Manassas, Va.-based Institute of Navigation Inc. for his contributions to the science of navigation, the company said.
Van Diggelen was given the Thurlow award for solving a problem that my tiny brain can’t explain in everyday language.
I’ll let the experts take the reins on this one: “Van Diggelen pioneered important mathematical techniques to address the problem of computing a position using measurements obtained prior to achieving bit or frame synchronization. In related research, van Diggelen developed algorithms to resolve the millisecond ambiguities that arise when working with sub-millisecond pseudo-ranges.”
Got that?
Van Diggelen’s work has had a big impact on the adoption of global positioning systems as a mainstream technology for mobile devices. It’s also helped those devices obtain real-time data even when a reliable network wasn’t available.
He’s named on some 50 patents. He’s also an assistant professor at Stanford University and received his doctorate in electrical engineering from Cambridge University.
Intel’s New Hire
Intel Corp. and hip hop band Black Eyed Peas frontman Will.i.am kicked off a new collaboration in Anaheim.
The seven-time Grammy winner was named Intel’s “director of creative innovation” in a press event at the Anaheim Convention Center during an Intel sales and marketing conference held there.
Will.i.am is set to be involved in a “hands-on creative and technology collaboration” with Intel.
The company’s not entirely sure what that entails, but Will.i.am could help guide the development of devices such as smartphones, laptops and tablet PCs, industry watchers said.
It’s not the first time a popular music figure has inked a collaborative deal with a tech company.
Last year, Lady Gaga teamed up in a “creative collaboration” with Polaroid Corp., a project dubbed “Grey Label.” She announced the result of the collaboration last month, unveiling a pair of eyeglasses that display photos.
Others say Intel is looking to boost its brand in the eyes of the Facebook and Twitter generation.
“It’s imperative that Intel and our innovations are kept in front of the global youth culture that embraces new devices and new forms of communication and entertainment,” said Deborah Conrad, Intel’s vice president and chief marketing officer.
As for the hip hop star’s contribution: “It’s going to be amazing.”
