intellectual ventures

Rob Hyndman sent over the news that Intellectual Ventures continues to ramp up its litigation efforts, with the latest target being camera maker Nikon, who has been sued for infringing on four patents.

We were just noting the oddities of Intellectual Ventures suing Motorola Mobility Inc. as MMI is likely being acquired by Google -- since Google is an IV investor, and supposedly immune from suits over IV's patents.

It would seem like once a deal closes, that the lawsuit would be moot.

You can almost hear Intellectual Ventures' lawyers cackling with glee in announcing that they've filed their latest patent infringement lawsuit against Motorola Mobility -- the company that Google is buying for its patents.

Clearly, this is a shot at Google.

Following last week's news of patent troll Lodsys going after a bunch of independent or individual iOS (iPhone/iPad) developers who were making use of Apple's in-app payment offerings (as required by Apple if you want to sell within an app), the company has put up a blog FAQ where it seeks to

It's often interesting what turns up in lawsuits. A few years ago, in the middle of yet another political fight over patent reform, lots of people were surprised when all the major unions suddenly stepped up as being against patent reform.

As we pointed out at the time, their arguments made no sense at all. Of course, also notable at the time was the fact that frequent Techdirt commenter and "all patents are perfect" supporter Ronald J.

Riley claimed credit for getting the unions to come out against patent reform.

Last year, we noted that more and more patents previously held by Intellectual Ventures were showing up in lawsuits -- with rumors swirling that IV still got a cut of money collected on at least some of those patents.

Then, in December, IV finally filed its first patent infringement lawsuits directly.

However, more of its "former" patents are popping up in lawsuits as well.

eSecurity Planet: "Tis the season to be litigious.""

NY Times: "Nathan Myhrvold, chief of Intellectual Ventures, says patent holders are being treated unfairly."

Law.com: "Patent-hoarding giant Intellectual Ventures has long beat the drum that it doesn't file lawsuits. But now Intellectual Ventures has started selling some of its 27,000 patents to people who aren't afraid to sue..."

TechFlash: "This happened a while back, but the video made it to YouTube only recently. For your weekend enjoyment, here's Jimmy Kimmel's take on the hurricane-prevention patent filing made by Bill Gates, Nathan Myhrvold and others connected to Myhrvold's Intellectual Ventures."