Tech Giants Pooling Cash To Buy Patents

theodp writes with a link to a Reuters report, based on a WSJ story, that "Verizon, Google, Cisco, and HP are among the companies that have joined a secretive group called the Allied Security Trust. Each of the companies will reportedly put $5 million in escrow to allow AST to snap up intellectual property on their behalf before it falls into the hands of parties that could use it against them. Patents will be resold after AST member companies have granted themselves a nonexclusive license to the underlying technology. According to AST CEO Brian Hinman, a former VP of IP and Licensing at IBM, the arrangement will keep member companies out of antitrust trouble." (The WSJ's story itself is more detailed, but it's subscriber-only.)

Comments

Imaginery property

[cliffski]

What dork on here keeps slinging around this infantile put down of IP as 'imaginary property'? I'll make a deal with you, You respect the Intellectual property of others, and the banks will respect your imaginary wealth stored as a string of numbers on a bank computer. deal?
After all, your bank balance is imaginary property too.
*sigh*