M·CAM, Inc. releases Patently Obvious® Bulletin on the Alcatel-Lucent Financing

Date:  Fri, 2012-12-21

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA December 21, 2012 – M·CAM, Inc. released its Patently Obvious® Bulletin on the Alcatel-Lucent Financing

Alcatel-Lucent’s (ALU) financial troubles drove it to seek financing from Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs this quarter. Since the struggling telecom company is unable to slow its cash burn, ALU may use its 29,000 patent portfolio as security for $2.1 billion of senior secured financing. They include the intellectual property (IP) originally developed by Bell Labs. Earlier this year, ALU attempted to monetize its portfolio by announcing a preliminary deal with RPX, but as yet no formal deal has been announced. This Patently Obvious™ Bulletin exposes critical information which could impact the proposed transaction.

ALU needs better visibility into where the real commercial values exist in their IP portfolio. As they pursue this financing, the company would be well served to actually identify its real market opportunities as well as the stringent regulatory controls on their assets. There are specific legal and security concerns for ALU as it ponders the use of its IP as security for the credit it seeks. Both the United States (U.S.) and French governments have cause to be concerned on any potential transfer of national security-related IP, which ALU has in great volume. Both governments have the means to prevent the deal from going through.

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® Bulletin on the Alcatel-Lucent Financing can be found HERE.