Mosaid to pay $70M for Wi-Fi, WiMAX patents

Mosaid Technologies Inc. announced it will pay around $70 million to chipmaker Agere Systems for patents covering Wi-Fi and WiMAX technology.
“Agere invited more than 70 companies to bid on this portfolio of intellectual property assets, which includes several inventions patented by engineers working for the WaveLan group of NCR, which founded the 802.11 standards body,” said John Lindgren, SVP of Mosaid’s patent-licensing business. “Consumer and infrastructure products that adhere to the 802.11 and 802.16 wireless networking standards utilize the patented inventions we have acquired, and many significant multinational companies are presently unlicensed to this patent portfolio.”
Mosaid’s business is built around licensing patented technology to chipmakers.
The news is notable as patent licensing and intellectual property are key components of the wireless industry. Indeed, some wireless heavyweights, such as Qualcomm Inc. and InterDigital Communications Inc., rely heavily on the development and licensing of their patents.
Agere’s stock remained relatively unchanged after the news.