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HTC is set to acquire a set of 82 patents and 14 patent applications from ADC Telecommunications for a cool $75 million, according to a report out of Digitimes. Sources say the wireless communications technology patents will be used primarily in developing 4G technologies for their upcoming smartphone efforts. The patents should also serve to guard against future lawsuits, though it the new acquisitions won’t do much to help with the current legal battle between HTC and Apple.
[via Digitimes]
Does anyone else think this feels like a nuclear arms race?
Yep. Google just beefed up their patent portfolio with a $900m budget too. If this doesn’t scream patent system reform then what does? The only people who gain from this craziness are the lawyers fighting the patent court battles.
I second that. We need patent reform ASAP. It’s starting to stifle development. Every million bucks these companies shell out on patent purchases is a million less that goes into development of novel features.