Time Warner, IBM to Cross-License Patents
Media Giant Strikes Deal with PC Titan
By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 8/1/2007 8:01:00 PM
Time Warner and IBM struck a long-term agreement to cross-license their respective patent portfolios.
Financial terms were not disclosed, nor was the length of the agreement. The deal lets each company develop products and services based on the other’s patent holdings.
“Time Warner recognizes IBM’s record of sustained innovation,” Time Warner vice president and patent counsel Chuck Fish said in a prepared statement. “A license to IBM’s broad portfolio of patents is a valuable asset for Time Warner.”
Dan Cerutti, IBM’s general manager of software intellectual property, added, “IBM and Time Warner have rich histories of pioneering innovation in online and networked systems dating back to before the development of the World Wide Web. We are pleased to be able to share our innovations through a patent cross-license."
IBM owns more than 40,000 active patents worldwide and generates about $1 billion annually from patent-licensing deals.
According to IBM, it owns hundreds of patents relevant to media and entertainment companies, including those that apply to video-on-demand, video search, interactive advertising, multiplatform content distribution, content protection and home networking.
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