Patents have been one of the dreadful things focused on by manufacturers in recent years. As we all know, Apple has been the king of dragging companies, such as Samsung, through the courts by trying to get device after device banned, especially those of prominent Android device manufacturers. Most of Apple’s court room success has come in other countries, but that hasn’t stopped it from continuously fighting in the United States as well. In order to combat this, HTC and Samsung have been forced to file for a plethora of patents and buy up companies that hold a lot of patents. Samsung has even go as far as to set up a patent company here in the United States.
Samsung’s display division has quietly set up a patent company in the United States called Intellectual Keystone Technology, or IKT. The firm has already snatched up former Seiko Epson patents believed to be around LCD and OLED technology. IKT is entirely owned and operated by Samsung Display and, according to the Korea Times, was started to “strengthen” Samsung’s intellectual property base. It cost Samsung Display roughly $25 million to launch the firm in the Washington D.C. area.
“Patents are a good source of innovation and we also need to protect our intellectual property by strengthening our patent-related business,” a Samsung Display representative told the Korea times. The spokesperson would not comment on the acquisition of said Seiko Epson patents, though.
One analyst believes that it is Samsung’s desire to be a leader in the mobile display market and generate revenue from it that led it to snatch up the patents. “Samsung is eager to buy patents in LCD and OLED technologies as they have indisputable leverage in the display business” one insider argued. “That’s the area that can generate revenue regardless of market situations.”
Samsung’s IKT firm was set up in Match and already holds 123 patents, as of the end of April. The patents range from things such as the aforementioned display technology to devices built up of layered honeycomb surfaces.
There is a lot that Samsung can do with these patents. One of the biggest uses will obviously be defending themselves from Apple and other companies in the court room. It could also be a source of revenue for the company, as it could license these patents out to other manufacturers, similar to what Microsoft does with most Android manufacturers.
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