Birds-Eye.Net maintains a listing of patent trolls that operate within the broadband industry. A patent troll is a company whose product is primarily patents and whose revenue primarily comes from proceeds gained from licensing Intellectual Property (IP) to companies infringing on their intellectual property.

Acacia Technologies Group (ACTG)
500 Newport Center Drive, 7th Floor
Newport Beach, CA 92660
(v) 949.480.8300
(e) email
Notes: licenses digital media transmission, digital video production, credit card fraud technology, computer memory cache, interactive television, multi-dimensional bar code, interstitial internet advertising, web conferencing and collaboration, resource scheduling. Company has successfully licensed technology to over 175 different companies. Comcast is the largest company to oppose its claims. Company has 92 employees, a $226 million market cap on revenue of $19.57 million (2005), and $41.1 million in cash (2005).

Licensees:

• 3M, Dell, Exxon, General Electric, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, J.C. Penney, Orbitz, Revlon, Samsung, Walt Disney Co., Wendy's

Subsidiaries:

• AV Technologies, LLC
• IP Innovation, LLC
• New Medium Technologies, LLC

Eolas Technologies, Inc.
(e) email
Notes: Judgment against Microsoft browser (521 mil in 2003)

Finisar (FNSR)
1308 Moffett Park Drive
Sunnyvale, CA 94089
(v) 408.548.1000
Notes: A company specializing in network (communications) and storage tools with particular focus in optical. Holds a significant patent portfolio (including international) of 393 issued US patents and another 792 pending patents Won suit against Agilent for use of digital diagnostics technology and seeks damages of 1.1 billion. Company has 2,580 employees, a $1.43 billion market cap on revenue of $366.75 million (2005), and $116.32 million cash (2005)

Forgent/Asure Software, Inc. (ASUR)
108 Wild Basin Road
Austin, TX 78746
(v) 512.437.2700
Notes: Company with dual focus on software for enterprise and IPR licensing of significant video patents. It launched its licensing program in 2002 and generated over 100 million in license revenue from 44 companies within first 3 years. Company has 33 employees, a $59 million market cap on revenue of $7.19 million (2005), and $16.66 mission in cash (2005).

Intellectual Property Development, Inc. (private)
1177 Kane Concourse, Suite 300
Bay Harbor Islands, FL 33154
(v) 305.662.8515
(e) email
Notes: Works with patent holders to bring litigation against potential patent infringers. Won settlement of HFC patent case against Rogers Cable of Canada (2000). Lost appeal against Comcast in hybrid-fiber coax (HFC) patent case (2003).

Intellectual Ventures
PMB 502
227 Bellevue Way
Bellevue, WA 98004-5721
(v) 425.467.2300
(e) email
Notes: A company started by Microsoft ex-CTO Nathan Myhrvold to invent and invest in inventions. Has not proceeded with litigation of infringing technologies... yet?

Subsidiaries:

• Ben Franklin Patent Holding
• CORPS of Discovery
• Searete, LLC
• Zen Corp

Jerome H. Lemelson
721 NW Ninth Ave. Suite 225
Portland, OR 97209
(e) email

NTP, Inc.
?, VA
Notes: suing Research in Motion (RIM)

Open Invention Network
New York, NY
Notes: free license body for Linux

Rembrandt Management, LLC (private)
401 East City Av
Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004
(v) 610.667.9685
An interesting company who's focus is not so much patents it holds and maintains but rather those that it is hired by the original inventor to represent and prosecute. They present an interesting value proposition to patent holders.

Rates Technology
Smithtown, NY
Notes: suing Google over Google Talk

Scientigo (SCNG.PK)
6701 Carmel Road, Suite 205
Charlotte, NC 28226
(v) 704.837.0500
(e) email
Notes: XML patent claims, licensed out to Continental DataGraphics

Pat-Rights
Keung; Tse Ho
P.O. Box 54670
North Point Post Office
Hong Kong
(e) email
Notes: suing Apple, Sony, Naptster, RealNetworks, MusicMatch over DRM

WiLAN (WIN.TO)
11 Holland Ave. Suite 608
Ottawa, ON K1Y 4S1
Canada
(e) email
Holdings: 237 patents
Technologies: CDMA, DOCSIS, DSL, V-Chip, WiFi, and WiMAX
Notes: settled case with Cisco, pending with D-Link, numerous CE licensees.

If you find any listing in this online white pages to be out of date or would like to add a company or can provide good reason for the removal of a company from this list please contact us by clicking the following link [update].

Check out these other Birds-Eye.Net papers/products regarding Patents:

• Automated Patent Evaluation - Automated patent evaluation methods
• Patent Harvesting Starter Kit - Essentials required to start filing patents for your company
• Patent Search and Management Services - A detailed look at your global patent search and management options
• Patent Trolls - Directory of active patent licensees

 

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