It's clear from Nvidia's focus on Tegra that the graphics company knows that there's a future in mobile. For that very reason, Nvidia and Intellectual Ventures (IV) nounced that they have jointly acquired a set of patents developed and owned by IPWireless.
The portfolio comprises approximately 500 patents granted and pending in the wireless communications area, including essential concepts in LTE, LTE-Advanced and 3G/4G technologies. Terms of the acquisition, which closed on April 30, 2012 were not disclosed.
Ownership of the patents was split between Nvidia and IV, with Nvidia licensing the rights to those patents that it did not acquire. As part of the acquisition, IPWireless retains perpetual, royalty-free access to these patents.
"This acquisition complements our ownership of extensive fundamental patents in graphics, visual and mobile computing," said David Shannon, executive vice president and general counsel at Nvidia. "These patents, acquired in collaboration with Intellectual Ventures, will help support our rapidly expanding efforts in the mobile business."
