Intellectual Ventures Acquires Transmeta Patent Portfolio
Update: Intellectual Ventures has acquired Transmeta Patent Portfolio on Jan. 28, 2009
Intellectual Ventures strengthens its semiconductor patent portfolio through recent investment
Bellevue, Wash.—Jan. 28, 2009—Today, Intellectual Venture Funding LLC, an affiliate of Intellectual Ventures, completed the acquisition of the patent portfolio formerly developed and owned by Transmeta Corporation. This transaction follows the acquisition of formerly publicly traded Transmeta by privately held Novafora, Inc.
With this transaction, Intellectual Venture Funding LLC acquired more than 140 U.S. patents and a substantial number of pending patent applications. The transaction also includes patents and patent applications in countries beyond the United States.
With the completion of these two transactions, the technology developed by Transmeta for more than a decade will be used further through two distinct routes:
- Novafora’s improving its own proprietary designs by using some of the technologies invented by Transmeta, and
- Intellectual Ventures providing other companies with access to Transmeta’s former patent rights under non-exclusive licensing terms.
“This transaction demonstrates how Intellectual Ventures’ unique business model can enhance the creation, dissemination, and use of technological inventions. When technologies from multiple sources are combined, or when patent rights from many inventors are combined, the original inventions can now find a home in new applications and in new companies,” said Vincent Pluvinage, PhD, who leads strategic intellectual property acquisitions and private equity partnerships at Intellectual Ventures.
This portfolio contains relatively young patents; many were issued in the last few years. Transmeta licensed these patents to several of the largest microprocessor companies to generate revenue of approximately $300 million. The company was a pioneer in low-power microprocessor technology, “code morphing” techniques, and very long instruction word design architecture.
“The acquisition of the Transmeta semiconductor patents augments one of the most comprehensive patent portfolios in the semiconductor field, which now includes more than 2,000 patents. This benefits our current and potential licensees by providing more access to innovation and greater opportunity for commercial success,” said Paul Reidy, vice president of semiconductor licensing at Intellectual Ventures. “These additions cover inventions in high-performance, low-power, and embedded processors. Some of the recently issued patents detail some of the most interesting breakthroughs in microprocessor architecture we’ve seen in the last decade or so.”
About Intellectual Ventures
Intellectual Ventures is a privately held global invention capital company with offices worldwide, including its headquarters in Bellevue, Wash., and satellite offices in Silicon Valley, Chicago, Austin, Tokyo, Beijing, Singapore, Seoul, and Bangalore. Founded in 2000, Intellectual Ventures stimulates the creation of new inventions by supplying capital, expertise, and new business models to the global intellectual property market. Intellectual Ventures creates inventions, buys inventions, and partners with inventors to develop new inventions. For more information, see http://www.intellectualventures.com.
|
Related News
- Celestial AI Acquires Rockley Photonics Patent Portfolio, Strengthening Photonic Fabric IP
- WiLAN Subsidiary Acquires Wired Connectivity Patent Portfolio
- WiLAN Subsidiary Acquires Substantial Patent Portfolio from MediaTek
- WiLAN Subsidiary Acquires Patent Portfolio from MagnaChip
- WiLAN Subsidiary Acquires Patent Portfolio from GLOBALFOUNDRIES
Breaking News
- Ubitium Debuts First Universal RISC-V Processor to Enable AI at No Additional Cost, as It Raises $3.7M
- TSMC drives A16, 3D process technology
- Frontgrade Gaisler Unveils GR716B, a New Standard in Space-Grade Microcontrollers
- Blueshift Memory launches BlueFive processor, accelerating computation by up to 50 times and saving up to 65% energy
- Eliyan Ports Industry's Highest Performing PHY to Samsung Foundry SF4X Process Node, Achieving up to 40 Gbps Bandwidth at Unprecedented Power Levels with UCIe-Compliant Chiplet Interconnect Technology
Most Popular
- Cadence Unveils Arm-Based System Chiplet
- CXL Fabless Startup Panmnesia Secures Over $60M in Series A Funding, Aiming to Lead the CXL Switch Silicon Chip and CXL IP
- Esperanto Technologies and NEC Cooperate on Initiative to Advance Next Generation RISC-V Chips and Software Solutions for HPC
- Eliyan Ports Industry's Highest Performing PHY to Samsung Foundry SF4X Process Node, Achieving up to 40 Gbps Bandwidth at Unprecedented Power Levels with UCIe-Compliant Chiplet Interconnect Technology
- Arteris Selected by GigaDevice for Development in Next-Generation Automotive SoC With Enhanced FuSa Standards
E-mail This Article | Printer-Friendly Page |