Summary: SoftBank grabbed headlines (in the West at least) when it bought ARM, but will it soon grab headlines for going after practicing companies using a bunch of patents that it got from Inventergy, ARM, and beyond?

The SoftBank Group is a very large group (nearly 70,000 employees) and has a big stake in China, which is a growing market for patent trolls -- a subject which we wrote about several times last year.

"We certainly hope that what IAM is showing does not suggest that ARM's patents too -- some time down the line perhaps -- can become a weapon of coercion just like Qualcomm's."Is Softbank, the new owner of ARM, becoming a patent troll (at least in part)? Based on IAM, "Fortress moved into IP finance four years back when Eran Zur, Joseph Kessler and other former senior RPX employees joined the firm." RPX's latest woes (more background in our Wiki) seem to suggest that it's in the process of collapse (a privatisation was attempted, leading to an ouster). IAM notes "that Fortress is no longer publicly traded [and it] could be helpful in any monetisation effort it undertakes with the Inventergy patents or others. But that is assuming Softbank wants to be an NPE owner."

NPE is just a polite term for "patent troll" -- a term which IAM does not like to use because several of IAM's sources of income are patent trolls and it organises events to launder the reputation of trolls. Yesterday it wrote about "arguments over “patent trolls” and “efficient infringers” and often broad disagreements over patent values," which basically frames “patent trolls” as a made up concept and says “efficient infringers” -- a propaganda term of patent maximalists (which IAM nowadays uses even without scare quotes).

We certainly hope that what IAM is showing does not suggest that ARM's patents too -- some time down the line perhaps -- can become a weapon of coercion just like Qualcomm's. ⬆