Pendrell Corp. has made another big patent purchase. The Kirkland company led by former Clearwire CEO Ben Wolff announced today that it has acquired 125 patents and patent applications from Nokia, most of which cover technologies around SD cards and flash memory.
Pendrell said that the combined market for the flash memory business is expected to hit $12 billion this year, while the market for SD cards is expected to top $21 billion in the next five years. As part of the deal, Pendrell has formed a new subsidiary, Helsinki Memory Technologies, to license the technologies.
“Our acquisition of these Nokia patents together with the formation of Helsinki Memory Technologies uniquely illustrates the deep connection that strong, transferrable and enforceable IP rights have with promoting investment in research and development,” said Joseph Siino, chief intellectual property officer for Pendrell. “As with our other portfolios, the patents we have acquired from Nokia provide the basis for ongoing innovation, and also allow us to offer these inventions to IP-respecting companies worldwide on fair and reasonable terms.”
Nokia’s memory technologies have been used in a variety of products, including MP3 players, tablets, digital cameras and printers. The new memory unit of Pendrell will be based in Finland, and led by scientist Kimmo Mylly who previously led Nokia’s memory technologies program.
The terms of the sale were not disclosed. Shares of Pendrell dropped today on the news. The company boasts a market value of $393 million. Full presentation on the recent deal here.
Previously on GeekWire: Bigger and better bamboo? Pendrell buys 68% stake in bamboo science firm Provitro
