Digimarc has announced a new long-term partnership with Intellectual Ventures. Under the agreement, IV will exclusively sublicense Digimarc technology patents. This will allow Digimarc to more effectively monetize its patent assets, encourage adoption of its technologies by industry-leading companies and ultimately increase its own rather of growth.
The real big deal here is the overall price tag. The agreement starts off with a license issue fee of $36 million, payable to Digimarc in quarterly installments over three years. The technology company will also keep 20% of all profits generated by IV from the licensing of Digimarc technologies.
“This partnership is a huge step forward for Digimarc toward realizing its vision of teaching computers to see, hear and understand,” said Digimarc chairman and chief executive officer Bruce Davis. “This partnership with IV is a remarkable opportunity for a company like Digimarc, with breakthrough technologies, but limited means to efficiently propagate its technologies throughout addressable markets.”
Intellectual Ventures sees Digimarc technologies as increasingly valuable to companies involved in leveraging traditional and digital ways to distribute multimedia content.
Yet not all is rosy in tech-patent world for Digimarc. A lawsuit filed in Delaware alleges that 22 of Digimarc patents are invalid, alongside other claims. Digimarc said in a statement that it anticipates third-quarter revenues to be lower as a result of this litigation—and expenses to be higher due to professional fees associated with the IV transaction and new product initiatives.