A unit of Newport Beach-based Acacia Research Corp., which licenses patents on behalf of clients, didn’t waste any time going after Amazon Inc.’s Kindle Fire.
Acacia filed a patent-infringement suit more than a month before Kindle Fire is expected to reach customers. The company said Seattle-based Amazon infringed on four technologies that Acacia licenses to other tablet and mobile phone makers.
The Amazon suit is the latest in a string of high-profile patent cases filed by Acacia, which has become a leader in patent licensing, an emerging asset class gaining prominence in the technology industry.
When Acacia finds a company infringing on a patent, it tries to strike a licensing deal or sues. It splits sales, licensing fees and court settlements with the patent holders.
Acacia has a patent infringement lawsuit in Texas pending against a host of smart phone makers, including Cupertino-based Apple Inc. and HTC Corp. of Taiwan. It recently settled lawsuits against Schaumburg, Ill.-based Motorola Corp. and Research In Motion Ltd., the Canada-based maker of BlackBerrys.
The Kindle Fire is selling 50,000 units a day in advance of its debut, according to industry watchers.
The Amazon tablet costs about $200, less than half the price of an iPad, and is on pace to sell some 2.5 million units by its Nov. 15 launch date.
Apple is expected to sell nearly 40 million iPads this year, according to industry estimates.
Slowdown at Mindspeed
Newport Beach-based Mindspeed Technologies Inc., a maker of networking chips, has cut its revenue outlook in the September quarter, citing weakening demand in the communications infrastructure market.
The company projects to report revenue around $40.5 million.
Analysts on average are expecting revenue from $43 million to $44.5 million.
The company’s previous outlook for its fiscal fourth-quarter revenue, announced in a July earnings conference call, was in the range of $42.2 million to $43.9 million, in line with Wall Street estimates.
“We experienced a weaker demand environment in the fiscal fourth quarter of 2011, primarily impacting our high-performance analog and legacy wide area networking business, as a result of weakening demand in the communications infrastructure market,” said Mindspeed Chief Executive Raouf Halim.
The company did not provide guidance on profits.
Analysts on average are expecting a $2.6 million profit.
Mindspeed is scheduled to report its September quarter earnings Nov. 1.
Nicholas on Steve Jobs
Henry Nicholas, the cofounder and former chief executive of Irvine-based chipmaker Broadcom Corp., has fond memories working with Steve Jobs.
He credits the visionary behind Cupertino-based Apple Inc. for making Broadcom a better company.
The chipmaker partnered with Jobs and his staff of engineers to deliver the first integrated Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, along with the first gigabit Ethernet, Nicholas told the Business Journal.
“I could call him in the middle of the night and he could call me, which he did, usually demanding perfection,” he said. “Steve was simultaneously a leader, a businessman, a technologist, and an artist. No CEO has ever combined all of those attributes. Through sheer force of will, Steve used technology as a weapon to forge world-changing consumer markets out of nothing. The world has lost a unique genius who can never be replaced.”
Jobs died Oct. 5. He was 56.
New Marketing Chief at QLogic
Chris Humphrey, a 16-year industry veteran, has been hired as vice president of corporate marketing for Aliso Viejo-based QLogic Corp., a position that’s been vacant for some time.
QLogic makes electronics for data storage networks and battles Coast Mesa rival Emulex Corp. in bus adapter sales, a profitable piece of networking electronics.
Humphrey will oversee corporate marketing across product lines, according to Chief Executive Simon Biddiscombe.
“Chris will articulate and promote QLogic’s vision and lead integrated corporate marketing efforts that will continue to build awareness of QLogic products and solutions in the global marketplace, in addition to overseeing public relations, advertising, industry events, web communications and social media initiatives,” he said.
Humphrey will report to Biddiscombe.
Prior to joining QLogic, Humphrey served as vice president and general manager for a global strategic business unit within Connecticut-based Honeywell Life Safety, a unit of Honeywell International Inc. He’s also held senior roles at Irvine-based networking gear maker Lantronix Inc., Applied Micro Circuits Corp. in Sunnyvale and Florida-based Tyco Fire & Security, a unit of Tyco International Ltd.
