Intellectual Ventures and Olympus Settle Patent Dispute, Reach License Agreement

Intellectual Ventures (IV^®) announced today that it has reached a settlement in its patent infringement dispute with Olympus Corporation. In the past two months, four companies including Olympus have resolved patent litigation with Intellectual Ventures. In September, IV moved to dismiss SK hynix Inc. and Elpida Memory, Inc. from patent litigation and, in October, moved to dismiss McAfee, Inc. from different patent litigation.

Olympus has agreed to license segments of IV’s extensive patent portfolio, which includes nearly 40,000 IP assets in more than 50 technology areas. As a licensee, Olympus also elected to join IV's IP-for-Defense program, which provides customers the ability to obtain patents from IV's broad portfolio to support counter-assertion, enabling more efficient negotiations in order to reduce liabilities and achieve favorable licensing terms.

“With this license, Olympus is the first major digital imaging company to become a customer of Intellectual Ventures, and we look forward to a long and productive relationship with Olympus,” said Andy Elder, executive vice president of global licensing for Intellectual Ventures.  “As the technology world is aware, licensing patents is one way for sophisticated companies to maintain a competitive advantage and reduce risk. Our customers recognize the value of invention and that a license enables continued innovation and the ability to bring new products to market.”

Olympus Corporation – through its subsidiaries Olympus Corporation of the Americas, Olympus America Inc. and Olympus Imaging America Inc. – was named as a defendant in IV’s patent infringement action filed in September 2011 in the U.S. District Court of Delaware. Due to this settlement with IV, Olympus will be dismissed from this action. IV continues to pursue litigation against Olympus’ co-defendant in that suit, Canon, as well as a separate matter filed in October 2011 against Nikon, another digital imaging company.

 “We have invested in one of the most extensive intellectual property portfolios in the world and the succession of recent settlements validates the strength of this portfolio,” said Melissa Finocchio, chief litigation counsel for Intellectual Ventures. “We are committed to fulfilling our responsibility to our customers and investors by licensing our assets and by defending our rights in court when necessary.”

IV provides a variety of solutions for companies seeking to develop and enhance their IP strategies. Companies of all sizes can rely on IV to meet their current business needs and to provide guidance on developing and acquiring invention rights relevant to their product roadmaps. In addition to traditional IP licensing deals, companies can work with IV’s in-house inventors as well as its network of more than 4,000 inventors in 10 countries around the world to solve near-term technical issues and invent the technologies that will differentiate their next-generation products from the competition.