Wow! Nokia is buying 5% of ITRU. Management certainly seems to be able to land some big deals.
biz.yahoo.com
Wednesday January 31, 5:12 pm Eastern Time
Press Release
Nokia Selects InterTrust's DRM
Technology And Acquires 5% Stake
InterTrust's Digital Rights Management Solutions To Be Part Of Nokia's
Technical Architecture
HELSINKI, Finland & SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 31, 2001--Nokia
Corporation (NYSE:NOK - news), the global leader in mobile communications and InterTrust
Technologies Corporation (Nasdaq:ITRU - news), the leading developer of peer-to-peer,
distributed digital rights management (DRM) technologies, have signed an agreement by which
Nokia has agreed to license the InterTrust® Commerce and Rights/System(TM) DRM solutions,
and has selected InterTrust as its preferred DRM technology. Nokia will invest and acquire nearly
5% ownership of InterTrust stock for $20 million.
``Digital Rights Management is a crucial element in digital media distribution solutions and
InterTrust has developed a best-of-breed solution suitable to both mobile DRM and computing
platforms. We are very impressed by InterTrust's patent portfolio and we are excited about the
new opportunities that licensing InterTrust's DRM technology will offer us,'' says Pekka
Ala-Pietila, President, Nokia. ``In cooperation with other industry players, Nokia is defining the
technical architecture for the mobile Internet and InterTrust has the best technology for this
industry shaping work.''
``InterTrust is delighted to announce this relationship with Nokia,'' said Victor Shear, Chairman of
InterTrust. ``Combining Nokia's expertise in mobile communications with our DRM solutions, we
plan to offer entirely new opportunities in the area of mobile content distribution. Nokia and
InterTrust have a shared vision of the mobile future and by joining forces we intend to provide
content owners, application developers, and service providers globally the most advanced and
sustainable solution on which to base future products and services.''
Shear added, ``To support our new partnership with Nokia and to establish InterTrust DRM as
the de facto standard in the mobile market, InterTrust intends to invest significant resources to
further develop our mobile DRM system, enabling consumers to obtain, use, and interact
seamlessly with, digital content whenever and wherever they wish.''
Nokia's and InterTrust's relationship reflects the increasing demand for legitimate content delivery
solutions. InterTrust's platform is an ideal technology for Nokia and many other companies
planning to offer a broad range of rights-enabled products and solutions to both business and
consumer markets worldwide. In the future, an increased part of digital media consumption will
happen in the mobile context. Content and services will become event, situation and location
specific. Mobile communications and portability of rights will create entirely new ways of
consuming media and Nokia is committed to ensuring that consumers will be able to enjoy exciting
and easy-to-use services while protecting the rights of content owners. InterTrust has a leading
edge DRM technology with the most advanced features to help realize this goal.
The Rights/System(TM) product line, under development at InterTrust for several years, currently
includes the Rights/PD(TM) and Rights/Phone(TM) platforms. These platforms are designed to
make secure rights-management solutions for digital content portable, practical and productive.
The Rights/PD and Rights/Phone systems extend the functions of InterTrust's leading DRM
technology to portable devices, while meeting diverse vertical market requirements in
entertainment, enterprise, and publishing, as well as other markets. Licensed as software and
tools, these systems include libraries and components that can be incorporated as firmware in a
wide variety of portable devices and consumer appliances.
The Rights/PD and Rights/Phone technologies for PCs and other computing environments, work
with and are complemented by the InterTrust's InterRights Point(TM) rights management virtual
machine. Rights/PD and Rights/Phone software act as the control point on the portable device by
communicating with and managing the secure transfer of files and rights to and from portable
devices.
About Nokia
Nokia is the world leader in mobile communications. Backed by its experience, innovation,
user-friendliness and secure solutions, the company has become the leading supplier of mobile
phones and a leading supplier of mobile, fixed and IP networks. By adding mobility to the Internet
Nokia creates new opportunities for companies and further enriches the daily lives of people.
Nokia is one of the most broadly held companies in the world with listings on six major
exchanges.
About InterTrust
InterTrust is the primary developer of peer-to-peer, distributed digital rights management (DRM)
technology. Its general-purpose DRM trust platform serves as a foundation for trusted
peer-to-peer and client server e-commerce. InterTrust holds numerous patents in the area of
trusted systems technology and peer-to-peer rights management, and licenses its technology and
patents in the form of software or hardware and tools to partners. These partners provide digital
commerce services and applications that together form an interoperable global commerce system
under the MetaTrust Utility® brand. InterTrust serves as the commercial administrator of the
MetaTrust Utility, ensuring the neutrality, security, commercial reliability, and trusted
interoperability of devices, services, and applications.
The statements contained in this release that are not purely historical are forward-looking
statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934,
including statements regarding InterTrust's expectations, beliefs, hopes, intentions or strategies
regarding the future. All forward-looking statements included in this document are based upon
information available to InterTrust as of the date hereof, and InterTrust assumes no obligation to
update any such forward-looking statement. Actual results could differ materially from current
expectations. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not
limited to, the factors and risks discussed in InterTrust's reports filed from time to time with the
Securities and Exchange Commission.
(c) 2001 InterTrust. DigiBox, the InterTrust logo, MetaTrust, and The MetaTrust Utility are
registered trademarks of InterTrust Technologies Corporation, and TrustChip, RightsChip,
InterRights Point, MetaTrust-Certified, Rights/PD and Rights/System are trademarks of InterTrust
Technologies Corporation, all of which may or may not be used in certain jurisdictions. All other
brand or product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies or
organizations. |
