Giant obtains valuable second opinion prior to purchasing patents, strengthens licensing position
“We’re always satisfied with Chipworks. Among other things, they’ve given us a valuable second opinion on various patent acquisitions. That’s why we keep going back to them to perform additional work.”
- VP, Intellectual Property
Situation
Already in multi-million dollar negotiations with a major competitor, a semiconductor giant was considering acquiring new patents to strengthen its licensing position. The company had identified a group of patents for potential purchase, but did not have the internal resources to evaluate the patents’ strength against the competitor’s products. Wanting more comfort before investing, the company turned to Chipworks to confirm that the patents would strengthen its negotiating position.
Challenges
- Obtain technical evaluation of approximately twenty patents as part of due diligence prior to purchase
- Receive this evaluation within a short timeframe, before being out-bid by another company
- Find a technical partner able to respond quickly and work collaboratively
Chipworks Solution
- Evaluated the patents of interest, assessing their strengths based on likelihood of use and ability to find evidence of infringement
- Where appropriate, procured competitors’ products suspected of infringement, and performed cursory analysis to confirm likelihood of infringement
- Supported six different portfolio acquisitions in the above manner, working collaboratively with the client over nine months
Results
- Client obtained confirmation that patents were worth buying – for a cost that was a fraction of the deal value
- Client continues to work with Chipworks to support its patent acquisition program
- Where desired, client is also working with Chipworks to develop claim charts for the newly acquired patents