HP IP for sale

[hpnut]

I was wondering if this is part of HP's strategy to sell off PC manufacturing.

http://h20229.www2.hp.com/hpvps/OnlinePatentSales.html

talk about selling off the family's silver ;-)

Calculator Division next?

[Katie Wasserman]

I don't know how to judge this.

The purchase and sale of IP is a gigantic business these days. It might be that HP felt these groups of patents don't enhance its portfolio at all and don't threaten it either if they were held by a competitor. So it made good sense to sell them.

Or, like you suggest, selling these patents (one of the 2 examples came from the EDS acquisition) is a prelude to getting out of the PC business.

[Lincoln R.]

These patents don't seem *that* exciting. Not to mention, there are almost certainly terms and conditions in the sales contract, one of which may very well be "You agree to grant HP an indefinite, irrevocable, royalty-free license to use this patent." Given the proliferation of patent trolls in today's world I'd almost bet money that's in there somewhere, HP really doesn't want to get sued by someone who bought one of their own patents.

[Lincoln R.]

Yup.

http://h20229.www2.hp.com/hpvps/Online%20Patent%20Sales%20Agreement.pdf Page 7

Quote:

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License Grant from Purchaser to HP. Effective as of the Closing Date, Purchaser agrees to grant and hereby grants to HP and its current and future Affiliates a worldwide, non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free and fully paid up license, without any right to sublicense, under each of the Licensed Patents, to make, have made, use, sell, offer for sale, have sold, lease, import, export, and/or otherwise transfer any product or service, and to practice or have practiced any method or process for the manufacture or use of any product or service.

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[Tim Wessman]

There is a "buy it now" button if you look closely. . .

TW

[hpnut]

Tim,

not surprising given that Meg is in the driving seat now :-)

hpnut in Malaysia

[John B. Smitherman]

Do they accept PayPal? Will they ship outside of the US? ;-)

John