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Lenovo scores on patent acquisitions with Motorola [New Vision (Uganda)](New Vision (Uganda) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Lenovo Group, the leading Chinese PC maker, sealed its acquisition of Motorola Mobility from Google on Oct. 30, obtaining the company's patents, channels, research teams and smartphone brands including Moto X, Moto G, Moto E and Droid, reports Sina's tech news portal. The Google package also included more than 2,000 patents and 21,000 cross-license patents, which puts Lenovo in a better position for its foray into the North American and European markets, Lenovo's CEO Yang Yuanqing said. According to industry analysts, companies usually have to spend a large sum of money for patent licensing, approximately 20% of their revenue. Most Chinese handset makers could not afford such capital investment and therefore prefer to explore emerging markets like India, Russia and Indonesia, where patent protections are less strict. Lenovo has made two major acquisitions in 2014. The first happened in March, costing Lenovo US$100 million for 21 patents including 3G, LTE and other mobile patents from Unwired Planet, formerly a significant mobile software provider known as Openwave. The second was in April when Lenovo acquired NEC and its over 3,800 patent portfolios that are mainly applied in smartphone manufacturing. Though not disclosed, the NEC deal was said to be more than US$100 million. The combined market share of Lenovo and Motorola in the mobile phone market stands at 8.7%, making the firm now the third largest in the world. Among Chinese handset makers, Huawei and ZTE have patent advantages from their telecom background. For Lenovo, a recognized PC maker, they will have to devote much more effort to research and development, building patents from the ground up if they are to sustain a competitive edge i the long-term, according to the report. COPYRIGHT (c) 2014 NEWVISION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info). |