HTC

On March 27, 2012, Graphics Properties Holdings, the remnant of Silicon Graphics Inc., launched a patent infringement suit against Apple, HTC, LG, RIM, Samsung, and Sony. Despite its non-operating status and troll-like activities, Graphics Properties does hold a decent patent portfolio (read: it’s not perfect, but they do hold early priority to widely used display technologies). What does this mean to these defendants, half of which are already suing each other over patent infringement?

Motorola Mobility has a substantial quantity of uncited precedent innovation that could affect the quality of its intellectual property assets, with nine of the eighteen “stars of the portfolio” patents asserted against Apple last year appearing to be impaired. It is apparent that Google’s purchase relies on quantity over quality for its justification, as only half of their stars have much substance.