Microsoft

Dell’s Bargain Bin Pricing

On February 5, 2013, Dell announced that Michael Dell and Silverlake Partners were planning to take the company private at $13.65 a share. Their proposed price could undervalue the company and possibly diminish the interest of current Dell shareholders. Dell’s second largest investor, Southeastern Asset Management (Southeastern), publicly opposes the transaction. It released a sum-of-the-parts analysis of Dell’s share price. Southeastern came to the conclusion that a more appropriate share price would be 75% larger than Michael Dell estimated.

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Like a Deranged Easter Bunny: Intellectual Property Analysis of Amazon and the Microsoft Android Licensing Program

It's settled. We've figured out Microsoft's costume for this year's Halloween party: Ralphie's pink bunny suit from A Christmas Story.

Why?

Given its licensing program – and recently, its agreement with Quanta, Amazon’s Kindle Fire manufacturer – why not? A look at Microsoft’s IP Licensing page tells us the company “has entered into more than 700 licensing agreements and continues to develop programs that make it possible for customers, partners and competitors to access its growing, broad patent and IP portfolio.”

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Splitting the Arrow Through the Axe Head: Is Android Google’s Trojan Horse, Oracle’s Siren Song or will this Odyssey have a new ending

Why? That’s the question we’ve been asking ourselves. Maybe its obvious to most of the capital markets and pundits alike, but… standing upon the proverbial rock from which we survey the “weather” on the financial horizon… we have to wonder why Oracle would sue Google for distributing a free product that is based, in part, on another free product? Why would Oracle put the lifespan of Android (and likely the Java ecosystem as a whole) at risk of near-term death?

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Intellectual Property Analysis of Google’s IBM Patent Acquisition

In April 2011, Google’s statement of its Nortel auction bid alluded to the latest buzzword of the tech industry: patent trolls. In the past year alone, almost forty Android-related lawsuits have been filed by entities that may be attempting to stifle or monetize on the success of the Android OS – a platform that is activated in more than 550,000 devices each day. While some of these lawsuits specifically target Google, many of them target device-makers utilizing the Android platform.

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Intellectual Property Analysis of Progressive’s U.S. Patent No. 7,124,088

On January 12, 2011, Progressive Casualty Insurance Company filed a patent infringement lawsuit against a group of its competitors. The suit claims that Allstate, Liberty Mutual and Safeco have all infringed on Progressive’s U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,124,088 (hereafter ‘088) and 6,064,970. The patents in question describe and protect an online insurance policy system and vehicle monitoring system. Two weeks after the lawsuit was filed using patent ‘088, a continuation of this patent 7,877,269 (US ‘269) was granted to Progressive, containing largely similar claims.

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