WiLAN Enters into Patent Agreement with Panasonic
12/16/2013
OTTAWA, CANADA--(Marketwired - Dec. 16, 2013) - Wi-LAN Inc. ("WiLAN") (TSX:WIN) (NASDAQ:WILN) has entered into a patent assignment agreement with Panasonic Corporation ("Panasonic") (TSE:6752) under which Panasonic will assign to Collabo Innovations Inc., a new WiLAN subsidiary, certain patents from Panasonic Automotive & Industrial Systems Co., one of Panasonic's internal companies.
As part of the agreement, Panasonic will transfer over 900 patents and applications to the new WiLAN subsidiary relating to a broad range of technologies in the field of semiconductor devices ("the Semiconductor Portfolio"), which are part of semiconductor patents that Panasonic owns. WiLAN believes the Semiconductor Portfolio has current applicability to a wide range of products including CMOS image sensors, microcontrollers and semiconductors used in optical drives.
"This broad transaction with Panasonic, one of the largest electronics companies in the world, is a very important new area of focus for our business. We believe that through tighter business relationships with licensees and partners, we can provide more value to our licensees and develop new sources of revenues for our shareholders," said Jim Skippen , President & CEO. "Given Panasonic's almost one hundred year history as a leader in research and product development, we are very excited to have this opportunity to help them obtain better returns on their R&D investments."
"Panasonic Corporation has over 140,000 patents worldwide and has stated a clear intention to improve the monetization and management of their intellectual property assets," said Shoji Matsumoto, Associate Vice-President, Strategic Alliances. "We believe that WiLAN's history of product development, continuing investment in technology research and successful and professional approach to licensing makes us an ideal partner to help Panasonic achieve their monetization and management goals in this transaction." |
