M·CAM, Inc. releases Patently Obvious® on Imperium (IP) Holdings’ U.S. Patent No. 7,109,535

Date:  Thu, 2011-03-31

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – March 31, 2011 – M·CAM, Inc. released its Patently Obvious® report today on the patent holdings of Imperium (IP) Holdings highlighted in Imperium (IP) Holdings, Inc. v. Apple Inc. et. al.

On March 18, 2011, Imperium (IP) Holdings filed a lawsuit in the Eastern District of Texas accusing seven companies of infringing five of its patents. Imperium claims that LG, Kyocera, Nokia, Motorola Mobility, Apple, Sony and RIM have all committed infringement by manufacturing, selling or importing cell phones. The asserted patents all relate to image sensors and, in particular, photodiodes. Each of the five patents came to ESS Technology, Inc. as part of its 2003 acquisition of Pictos Technologies, Inc. from Conexant Systems, Inc. In June of 2008, ESS announced that it had “merged with a wholly owned subsidiary of the Imperium Master Fund, Ltd., a fund managed by Imperium Partners Group, LLC.” One month later the USPTO recorded a transfer of 79 patents from ESS to Imperium (IP) Holdings.

Using the M·CAM DOORS™ analytic platform, an intellectual property analysis of Imperium (IP) Holdings’ U.S. Patent No. 7,109,535 (hereafter ”˜535) was conducted in order to understand its strength and defensibility in the face of prior and concurrent art innovation. The innovation space surrounding the ”˜535 patent and its patent family members was examined to determine which patent(s) may provide alternatives to or alter the value of Imperium (IP) Holdings’ properties.

The question stands: are Imperium’s infringement claims valid, or will potential weaknesses in its asserted patents backfire and injure Imperium’s portfolio?

M·CAM’s Patently Obvious® is a weekly report providing visibility into potentially unconsidered alternatives, including art in the public domain, to patent holdings across a variety of technology areas.

M·CAM, Inc. is a global, full-service intellectual property and rights (IP&R) and intangible asset financial services firm. We provide the technical and financial systems that allow public and private markets to use IP&R and IA for regulated transactions in banking, securities, insurance, and public innovation investment and technology procurement. From our pioneering work in creating the world’s first standards-based innovation collateralization financial products for banking and securities to our work in grassroots innovator enablement and patent quality assurance programs, M·CAM provides the mechanism to balance the interests of public and commercial sectors to support and build thriving economies.

The M·CAM Patently Obvious® report on the Imperium patent can be found HERE.