All in the details - Good Bad and .... Ugggg BlackBerry announced that a Key Patent Innovations subsidiary was buying 32,000 of its patents for $200 million plus back-end royalty sharing, amoung surveyed patent monitisation professionals who agree the price point is more in line with the portfolio’s value. But the consensus is that BlackBerry’s revenue-share of the profits won’t come close to the $700 million cap that the Canadian company touted in its announcement of the deal.
While the buyer has done well to talk the seller down on the ask price (former buyer Catapult IP Innovations was paying $600 million) the reality is the portfolio is vastly encumbered and has not got enough life left to ensure that the return-on-investment reaches the typical three- to five-times that many IP investors seek when they put their money to work.
However, the portfolio certainly has value in it, and the folks behind Malikie Innovations (a Key Patent Innovations subsidiary) have an impressive licensing pedigree. Should the deal earn regulatory approval from the Canadian and US governments, then the portfolio will be in good hands with Key Patent.