Apple Inc. recently recorded the receipt of 200 patents and pending patent applications from the electronics company Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. Although not recorded until May 18, 2011, the assignment is dated April 11, 2011. Freescale began as a division of Motorola in 1949 and spun-off in 2003. Some of the patents transferred originally belonged to Motorola.
The law does not require that patent assignments be recorded. However, the recordation of rights protects the assignee against others who may later claim rights under color of title. The recordation statute is a “notice statute” and indicates that a prior conveyance of an interest in a patent “shall be void as against any subsequent purchaser or mortgagee for valuable consideration, without notice, unless it is recorded in the [USPTO] within three months” from the date of the prior conveyance.
To be clear, the assignment records available only indicate that Apple received an “assignment of assignors interest.” Thus, it is unclear from the information now available whether (1) Apple obtained full title to the patents and (2) whether Apple purchased the rights or obtained them through some other type of transaction. However, a cash purchase is likely because Apple has a large multi-billion-dollar cash surplus while Freescale has a large multi-billion-dollar debt that has come due. The patents were previously mortgaged and a release of the security interest has not yet been recorded.
Assigned Patents include Patent Nos. 7929636; 7912083; 7881721; 7852811; 7813455; 7809074; 7808886; 7702029; 7693128; 7675844; 7627325; 7623599; 7609779; 7602861; 7603094; 7602837; 7599321; 7593485; 7590184; 7590419; 7539272; 7539462; 7495515; 7489202; 7486941; 7469020; 7421252; 7412006; 7403758; 7392026; 7369820; 7346317; 7346098; 7324558; 7313166; 7301402; 7266359; 7231586; 7227916; 7215972; 7209720; 7177616; 7158603; 7158578; 7148749; 7127563; 7120402; 7117234; 7109816; 7046977; 7042909; 7016398; 7010278; 6996158; 6982605; 6973142; 6961011; 6959035; 6952572; 6950634; 6950910; 6933766; 6930554; 6914935; 6889036; 6845233; 6839381; 6812802; 6804501; 6782038; 6768353; 6760386; 6751264; 6693490; 6625233; 6600344; 6594328; 6560447; 6490440; 6487395; 6487260; 6487398; 6445790; 6424825; 6400821; 6400218; 6393071; 6370211; 6356217; 6327313; 6317064; 6310856; 6301306; 6289060; 6275540; 6263199; 6259318; 6243410; 6233287; 6185411; 6137997; 6133793; 6130921; 6100721; 6073002; 6055436; 6049703; 6049233; 5960042; 5945878; 5943378; 5926052; 5905757; 5886547; 5874860; 5867063; 5812027; 5799043; 5799011; 5777516; 5778306; 5757236; 5757237; 5758275; 5748042; 5737327; 5734974; 5701600; 5696797; 5678223; 5673003; 5670951; 5633895; 5630222; 5606731; 5604926; 5584053; 5513382; 5493700; 5481226; 5478773; 5471665; 5448770; 5430416; 5387547; 5363071; 5194833; 5175729; 5128632; 5072193; and 5061911.
Assigned pending Patent Applications include Publication Nos. 20110096707; 20110019631; 20110009148; 20100322226; 20100202553; 20100115358; 20100110901; 20100113105; 20100091826; 20100061468; 20100061278; 20100042881; 20090304109; 20090245148; 20090245223; 20090238121; 20090232097; 20090201861; 20090190688; 20090181691; 20090181690; 20090116599; 20090051441; 20090034636; 20090034480; 20080318579; 20080267057; 20080268785; 20080268888; 20080232308; 20080233964; 20080233992; 20080232234; 20080229177; 20080227495; 20080165875; 20080165717; 20080101494; 20080080439; 20080080632; 20080080449; 20080076370; 20080075058; 20080043883; 20080025197; 20080009250; 20070293180; 20070280379; 20070274477; 20070201586; 20070109055; 20060239377; 20060223462; 20060170499; 20060035611; 20050111529; 20050079850; 20050042996; 20040041644; 20040041616; 20040019620; and 20030035498.
There is a substantial amount of diversity among this group of patents. They almost all relate to hardware for computers and wireless devices.