BlackBerry sells 90 patents to Huawei, protecting key ...

BlackBerry CEO John Chen takes half in an adventure at BlackBerry QNX Headquarters in Ottawa on Feb 15, 2019.

Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press

BlackBerry Ltd. has bought ninety patents to controversial chinese technology giant Huawei technologies Co Ltd., a part of a broader effort by the Waterloo, Ont., smartphone pioneer to dump most of its highbrow property.

records from the U.S. Patent and Trademark office, or USPTO, exhibit that BlackBerry assigned possession of the patents to Huawei on Dec. 23. They symbolize a tiny fraction of BlackBerry's trove of 38,000 patents however cowl many key advances dating from when it changed into the world's main smartphone maker to offer protection to the highbrow property round its handheld gadgets.

while the sale is the latest step in BlackBerry chief go vernment officer John Chen's multiyear efforts to refocus the company, it raises questions in regards to the Canadian govt's innovation approach and its commitment to give protection to key belongings from falling into the arms of international organizations, notably these whose factors have raised alarms among Canada's countrywide protection allies.

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BlackBerry looks to promote majority of its patents because it refocuses

"it's long past due for Canada to take the ownership and retention of intellectual property [IP] acquisitions and cybersecurity threats," noted Waterloo patent attorney Jim Hinton and co-founder of Innovation Asset Collective, a patent collective funded by way of Ottawa to support Canadian innovators.

"The Huawei patent acquisition looks to encompass BlackBerry safety-linked patents. ... there are so many creative and shrewd options to this full-out sale – akin to retention of shielding rights for Canadian corporations or vital cybersecurity property – that might have been done during this deal. nevertheless it takes realizing and political will."

Huawei Canada spokesman Alykhan Velshi talked about in an emailed commentary, "we don't touch upon our business activities. Huawei has been in Canada for more than a decade and employs greater than a 1,000 people here. We continue to be dedicated to Canada."

The patents bought include some granted from 2007 to 2009 that cowl such improvements as the presentation of textual content and pictures on a device according to its orientation, acquiring GPS records for geotagging digital pictures, and sharing records to a gaggle of cell devices. other more contemporary patents cover "access cont rol request on a verbal exchange gadget" and "system and components for transferring facts between electronic gadgets." terms of the sale have been no longer accessible.

A Blackberry spokeswoman demonstrated the company had "sold/transferred ninety US patents to Huawei, accepted beneath relevant guidelines." She called the transaction "very small...and not a part of an ongoing association."

In an interview with The Globe and Mail after saying his impending departure from federal politics, outgoing innovation minister Navdeep Bains declined to touch upon the specifics of the BlackBerry-Huawei deal, but pointed out the govt has a "effective funding Canada Act that appears at transactions when it comes to country wide protection. We've used [it] during the past to assist Canadian companies and to support financial pursuits, in addition to our countrywide security interest. ... We've got the equi pment and the legislation in location to protect Canadians," he mentioned.

The patent deal, along with an further, smaller acquisition by way of Huawei of 18 patents from eastern auto supplier Denso last month, become first reported Tuesday through IP trade journal IAM.

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BlackBerry, Canada's largest patent holder, has been seeking to promote tens of thousands of patents, IAM and The Globe pronounced in November. Patents on the block include IP in areas where BlackBerry changed into a trailblazer but isn't any longer a participant, similar to cell rapid messaging and social collaboration equipment. The enterprise is anticipated to retain a number of thousand extra patents as they underlie its latest agencies, which encompass cybersecurity and building computer working methods for automobiles.

Mr. Che n has been trying to steer BlackBerry to renewed success and chart a extra moneymaking route for traders due to the fact joining in 2013. He has managed the enterprise's exit from the smartphone business, reduce prices and shifted into new software agencies. however the inventory rate has remained stuck beneath US$10 a share for a good deal of his tenure.

One vibrant spot has been BlackBerry's skill to generate cash from its patents by way of pursuing licensing offers with different firms, typically by way of negotiating with corporations it maintained were the use of its IP, or by suing organizations such as facebook, Twitter and Snap it spoke of owed the company for the privilege.

but analysts are inclined to underplay the value of IP to an organization's inventory market cost as licensing revenue can also be lumpy and inconsistent. as an example, BlackBerry generated US$108-million in "licensing and o ther" revenue in its second quarter ended Aug. 31, or 42 per cent of the whole. but the subsequent quarter, licensing and other earnings changed into simply US$56-million, accounting for 25.7 per cent of the whole.

Patent consultants have speculated that almost all of BlackBerry's patents would doubtless end up owned via a non-Canadian enterprise and deal a blow to the nation's efforts to stoke an innovation-led financial system after tentative steps with the aid of the government to improve Canada's terrible acceptance for commercializing ideas.

BlackBerry is the most effective Canadian enterprise on IFI Claims Patent functions' annual listing of the 250 largest patent homeowners on this planet, published Tuesday, inserting fifty fifth. It become one in every of Canada's top 20 spenders on analysis and construction in 2019 and #1 10 years in the past, according to analysis Infosource.

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The emergence of Huawei as a purchaser complicates the challenge further. Huawei in recent years has become probably the most world's busiest patent filers, rating ninth last year with 2,761 patents granted by means of the USPTO – ahead of Amazon, Samsung and Google, in accordance with IFI. Huawei ranks 24th on the list of largest patent owners, relocating up 4 spots on the grounds that 2019.

Huawei, a key industrial champion of the chinese economy, has been accused of making the most of alleged chinese theft of trade secrets and techniques from now-defunct Nortel Networks Corp. it is seen by means of many within the foreign intelligence neighborhood as intently linked to the chinese government, considered to be one of the leading state sponsors of cyberattacks and corporate espionage.

the united states and Austr alia have barred Huawei from presenting apparatus to their next-era 5G telecommunications networks over concerns its expertise can be used for espionage and to exert power and control of others nations' infrastructure. Britain has pointed out businesses ought to get rid of Huawei equipment from 5G networks through 2027. New Zealand rejected a inspiration by one domestic instant company to use Huawei in its 5G network however has no longer instituted a widely wide-spread ban against its gear.

The Canadian executive has no longer up to now adopted predominant allies in banning or limiting Huawei from new 5G instant networks – regardless of studying the rely for greater than two years – however principal wireless providers together with BCE Inc., Telus Corp. and Rogers Communications Inc. have opted to use 5G gear from Finland's Nokia, Ericsson of Sweden or South Korea's Samsung.

"It's disappointing t o see that here's a further illustration of IP developed in Canada going to other hands, even if it's Huawei or others," Conservative innovation, science and business critic James Cumming spoke of in an interview.

"in this specific case, the govt's inaction with Huawei, mainly to coping with them in the 5G network and every other protection considerations that there may well be with Huawei, just isn't suitable. It's time for them to decide on a lane and deal with the certain considerations involving Huawei and talents security considerations. I feel it's clear our partners [in the Five Eyes national security alliance, the U.S, Britain, Australia and New Zealand] have already made their position rather clear, that they're now not going to do enterprise with Huawei in 5G. there's a particular concern regarding security risk with dealing with Huawei."

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relations between Canada and China had been frosty for more than two years due to the fact police during this nation arrested Huawei govt Meng Wanzhou on behalf of U.S. authorities, who need her extradited to face allegations she misrepresented Huawei's business dealings, inflicting international financial institution HSBC to violate U.S. sanctions towards Iran.

in the meantime, a Globe investigation in 2018 revealed Huawei had centered an enormous community of relationships with main research-heavy universities in Canada to create a gentle pipeline of highbrow property that the enterprise is using to underpin its market place in 5G.

"The acquisition of Canadian IP with the aid of chinese agencies is not at all dazzling," Mr. Hinton pointed out. "Canadian-generated IP is a few of the most fulfilling globally and we've been easy hunting ground for years."

He brought the received patents "can now be used through Huawei, a so-known as partner to over a dozen Canadian universities, to sue Canadian organizations in world markets. it's long past due for Canada to take the ownership and retention of IP seriously via a structured review of IP acquisitions and cybersecurity threats."

With reviews from Josh O'Kane in Toronto and Steven Chase in Ottawa

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