As part of our ongoing coverage of the ridesharing industry, we took a closer look at the patent portfolios of Lyft and Uber, especially in light of Lyft’s confidential S-1 filing. While Lyft has not disclosed its S-1, and will likely not until prior to its roadshow, public data seems to suggest that Lyft still has virtually no patents compared to its rival Uber. We analyzed Lyft’s US patent portfolio, and identified 12 issued patents, and 20 published US patent application assigned to the company. Lyft had previously owned another two published patent applications which were subsequently tran ..read more

Today’s news of the arrest of Huawei Technologies Co.’s CFO, Meng Wanzhou, reignites the accusations of Chinese companies blatantly stealing intellectual property of US-based entities.  In 2012, Envision IP analyzed Huawei’s US patent portfolio, and concluded that the company’s patent portfolio, at that time, seemed to lack innovation compared to similarly patented technology owned by Apple, Qualcomm, and Motorola Mobility. The conclusion was based on analyzing forward citations of these companies, which indicated that Huawei’s patents had relatively no forward citations when compared to ..read more

Just a few short years ago, social media companies were frantically acquiring, and filing-for, patents as they geared up for their IPOs. The spotlight on social media and networking companies has diminished a bit recently with the emergence of new sectors and technologies that have caught the media’s attention, such as for example, cryptocurrencies, medicinal cannabis, and artificial intelligence. However, there continues to be quite a bit of patenting activity by the major social media companies. Envision IP took a detailed look at the US patent portfolios of Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Snap ..read more

Earlier this week, Facebook’s founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before House and Senate committees after reports that the political research firm Cambridge Analytica gained access to 87 million Facebook users’ data during the 2016 U.S. elections. During the hearings, Zuckerberg emphasized Facebook’s past and future commitment to user privacy, stating: “I’ve directed our teams to invest so much in security—on top of the other investments we’re making—that it will significantly impact our profitability going forward…But I want to be clear about what our priority is: protecting ..read more

Earlier this week, BlackBerry filed a patent infringement suit against Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp over a number of patents it owns. There has been much speculation in recent years surrounding BlackBerry’s patent monetization strategy, and questions lingered around whether the company would start to aggressively assert its patent portfolio to drive revenue. In a report published by PatentVue last February, BlackBerry’s 44,000+ worldwide patent portfolio appeared ripe for litigation and licensing, in part due to their relative strength based on reverse citations. In light of the recent co ..read more

With the recent surge in cryptocurrencies, as well as companies in the blockchain ecosystem, Envision IP analyzed the US patent landscape of the industry. We reviewed patenting activity for all aspects of the blockchain industry – digital currency standards, digital currency exchanges, blockchain algorithms and infrastructure, blockchain front- and back-end applications, and blockchain-related enterprise technology. Crypto currency as a whole has been booming with new technology, and avid traders looking to cash in on the flow of money coming in – to the point where is now even a crypto tradin ..read more

Last month, Roku Inc. debuted on the NASDAQ, with its shares skyrocketing 67% from its IPO price at $14 per share. Over the last few weeks, Roku’s stock has continued its ascent, most recently closing at just shy of $40 per share. The company operates a television streaming platform, and allows users to personalize content, and also monetizes its service through ad-supported channels. With the streaming video space becoming increasingly competitive from dominant players such as as Netflix, Apple TV, Google Chromecast, and Amazon’s Prime Video and its Fire TV Stick, Roku faces stiff competition ..read more

In our continuing coverage of acquisitions and transfers of IBM patents, Envision IP analyzed recent IBM patent assignments from 2016 through 2017. Our previous analysis included IBM patent transfer through 2015. At that time, notable acquirers of IBM patents included Google, Alibaba, Twitter, and Facebook, with the latter three coming off IPOs in recent years. Over the last two years, IBM has transferred 530 patents to third parties, with a vast majority of these patents being acquired by Snapchat. Other interesting patent transfers include the following: ServiceNow is a cloud computing comp ..read more

Jawbone, the wearable device company once valued at $3 billion, has ceased operations and begun liquidation proceedings, according to The Information. The company has been involved in a number of high-profile intellectual property disputes in recent years with Fitbit. Envision IP analyzed the patent portfolio of Jawbone’s parent company AliphCom (also known as Aliph) to determine the scope and potential value of its patents. AliphCom currently owns 251 United States patents. The vast majority of these, 176 patents, were obtained through AliphCom’s purchase of BodyMedia, Inc. in 2013 for over ..read more

Lyft received its second United States patent this past June, US 9,679,489, entitled “Ride Chaining”. The patent marks the second issuance for Lyft, and the company currently has two issued patents and four published, pending patent applications. The ‘489 patent covers a system and method to efficiently utilize driver capacity, where riders with similar starting and ending points and times are matched so that they can share a ride. The patent states that “[i]f two riders request similar rides (e.g., with similar start points and end points) or rides that overlap significantly at points cl ..read more