RE:Wilan?Good question? I've been thinking about that myself. The short answer is that it's worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it. But that's not really very helpful.
I'd think the first step would be to add up all the best-scenario amounts that they're seeking in actions already initiated and then a probability of success would be attached to each one. They'd also be discounted for the time frame. A patent that's "worth" $50 million is not really worth $50 million if it's likely to take 5 years to collect.
You'd have to add something also for the other patents (not involved in actions). Some of those might have defensive value for a buyer.
You'd throw these together to get a time-discounted expected value of the portfolio. A potential buyer might choose to add something for the quality of people that would be coming with it, or subtract something for the costs of operation.
Then the big thing would be the kind of discount that potential buyers would apply to that expected value. On that one I admit I have no idea.
But if that discount to expected value were more than, say, 25% . . . well . . . it would be painful to let it go.
It sounds like just these ongoing fights with Apple could potentially end up being worth $300 million in total? Cabbie? All on one patent? Or a few? Out of thousands? So it would seem to me counterintuitive that all of Wilan could go for less than that.
I would guess that if Wilan wins the Apple appeal & cross-appeal with the CAFC then Wilan would go for US$350 million. But that may just be pie in the sky.