US based online retailer Amazon.com is recruiting intellectual property (IP) experts to help the company in patent acquisition and licensing in a bid to compete with other technology giants such as Google and Apple in digital content and mobile devices.
Argos Search has been selected by Amazon.com to enable the online firm to hire an IP acquisition and investment leader that will help the company identify and evaluate strategic IP acquisition and licensing opportunities, reports Reuters.
Amazon.com has already hired three patent experts, and its technology teams and selected IP expert will work on the future product development.
The move is aimed at trying to gather more patents, either through acquisitions of patent-rich companies, purchases of patent portfolios or licensing, and to become long-term player in mobile devices and digital content, the news agency reports citing IP experts.
David Pridham of IPNav said as Amazon.com get into wireless devices and digital media, the company realises the best way to handle this is to get more proactive in IP.
"They are following Apple by delivering digital media to their own hardware devices. That’s the type of technology they want to build an IP fence around," Pridham added.
Amazon.com can protect itself against potential lawsuits of alleged patent infringements by buying or licensing intellectual property in these areas, Pridham said.
Google acquired Motorola Mobility for $12.5bn in 2011, partly to use Motorola’s patents to be safe from legal tangles on its Android mobile platform, while Apple in the same year accumulated a lot of patents and paid $4.5bn for patent assets from Nortel Networks.
Acacia Research Corp Chief Executive Paul Ryan was quoted by Reuters as saying that Amazon.com licensed patents from Acacia around the end of 2011, which cover technology that includes functionality for tablet computers and smartphones.
