10.21.17
Gemini version available ♊︎Microsoft and Nokia’s Patent Trolls by Proxy: First Conversant, Now Provenance Asset Group Holdings LLC
Provenance Asset Group Holdings has no presence on the Web; it’s only mentioned by IAM and this shady page
Summary: Microsoft’s shell game with patents (passing Android-hostile patents to trolls) carries on and publishers funded by these trolls offer the details, albeit vaguely and with obvious spin
FIVE years ago, after this long case which we had been covering for a long time, Uniloc was probably paid hundreds of millions of dollars by Microsoft (they never revealed the exact amount of money).
“Microsoft also fed Nokia’s patents to MOSAID (now known as Conversant, one of the funding sources of IAM) and Google complained that Microsoft was feeding this patent troll in order to extort Android OEMs.”This patent troll, Uniloc, does not make anything. It’s just suing a lot of companies and it is still going after Apple. This post from last night said:
After a brief hiatus, patent troll Uniloc is back and looking to milk Apple for claimed damages and fees related to allegedly infringed patents, this time involving Apple Watch GPS functionality.
At the same time we also see Nokia, not too long after it was hijacked by Microsoft (the Elop routine), shaking down Apple for a lot of money (possibly several billions of dollars) and BlackBerry is going down a similar route.
“Basically, Microsoft not only killed Nokia’s business but it is also making it a patent troll, sometimes by proxy (by passing Nokia’s patents to classic trolls).”As a reminder, Microsoft also fed Nokia’s patents to MOSAID (now known as Conversant, one of the funding sources of IAM) and Google complained that Microsoft was feeding this patent troll in order to extort Android OEMs. Basically, Microsoft not only killed Nokia’s business but it is also making it a patent troll, sometimes by proxy (by passing Nokia’s patents to classic trolls).
Yesterday this blog post from IAM revealed that yet more of Nokia’s patents are being scattered to trolls. Acacia, which is connected to Microsoft, got mentioned and also Conversant, which pays IAM for such bias. Here we go again:
In what looks like one of the biggest patent deals of the year so far, Nokia has transferred a portfolio of almost 4,000 US grants to an entity called Provenance Asset Group Holdings LLC. The deal was recorded on the USPTO assignment database in mid-September. Although full details of the deal and the team behind Provenance are not yet clear, former AST head and RPX executive Dan McCurdy lists on his LinkedIn page that he became CEO of Provenance in September 2017. Late last year McCurdy left RPX to team up with Tim Lynch and Laura Quatela’s IP advisory business which is now known as Quatela Lynch McCurdy. Quatela is currently the chief legal officer at Lenovo but previously served as vice president of IP at Alcatel Lucent where she was based at the time of Nokia’s initial bid for the company.
[...]
Ever since it started to re-order its operations including the sale of its devices business to Microsoft, the Finnish company has been a relatively active seller of patents including to the likes of Acacia and Conversant. In a tough assertion market those assets have been monetised with varying degrees of success, but it’s interesting that with this latest transfer the giant telco has opted to work with one entity rather than do a series of smaller deals. The portfolio currently being sold by AQUA has been made available to buy in whole or in part.
It will be interesting to see what happens with these patents next (if not behind closed doors then out in public). Never underestimate Microsoft’s hatred of Linux, Google, and Android (unless Microsoft can blackmail the OEMs into pre-loading Android with Microsoft software). █
ᶃ Gemini Space
This post is also available in 
Content is available under CC-BY-SA