Top 25 alleged IP infringers and The RIM/Dolby litigation.
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As of January 1, 2011, PatentFreedom has identified and profiled over 380 distinct NPEs (a number which continues to increase). Since 1985, these NPEs have been involved in litigation with over 5,000 different operating companies in over 4,000 actions. And the pace of activity is clearly increasing.
As the figure below shows, the top 25 companies have been relentlessly pursued by NPEs.
No. Company Name 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Total
1 HP 8 13 20 17 17 75
2 Apple 3 12 12 23 20 70
3 AT&T 6 16 9 10 16 57
4 Sony 5 10 11 16 13 55
5 Microsoft 6 16 13 14 5 54
6 Dell 8 10 8 17 10 53
7 Samsung 8 14 11 6 12 51
7 Motorola 4 12 14 10 11 51
9 LG 3 12 9 7 15 46
10 Verizon 3 14 8 7 10 42
11 Panasonic 4 9 9 12 6 40
12 Nokia 4 10 9 11 5 39
13 Time Warner 6 9 5 3 14 37
14 Google 3 10 7 10 6 36
14 Cisco - 13 6 7 10 36
14 HTC 3 5 10 7 11 36
17 Sprint Nextel 3 11 8 6 6 34
18 Toshiba 4 9 5 8 7 33
19 Deutsche Telekom 2 12 5 5 6 30
19 RIM 2 3 11 6 8 30
21 Acer 4 7 8 7 3 29
22 IBM 3 7 2 10 5 27
22 Yahoo 2 11 2 7 5 27
24 Oracle 6 4 7 8 1 26
24 Fujitsu 3 3 7 8 5 26
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FYI/FWIW....Additionally, in case you missed this.....
Just a day after Nokia agreed to take Apple's cash and make peace, yet another skirmish broke out. On Wednesday Dolby International sued Research in Motion for allegedly infringing patents that are essential to the BlackBerry's audio capabilities.
The suit may not be on par with the clashes between Apple, Nokia, HTC, Samsung, and Motorola, but it just goes to show that smartphones are going to be the IP litigation bar's meal ticket for a long time to come.
Dolby claims that "virtually all" of RIM's competitors—Apple, HTC, Motorola, and Nokia, among others—have licensed its patents, which allow smartphone users to listen to compressed audio with high fidelity.
Faced with RIM's infringement, Dolby Internationalis seeking damages for past use of its technologies and to enjoin the sale of each and every one of RIM's devices using the patents in suit.
Dolby says it reached its licensing deals with other smartphone makers without filing a suit. Litigation was the last resort after RIM declined to pay for the use of Dolby's technology.
Licensing revenue is a major component of Dolby's business model, making up 77 percent of the $922.7 million it grossed last year. The patents named in the suit against RIM are available to use through a third-party licensing company.
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