The BlackBerry company has found a buyer: Catapult IP Innovations Inc, an entity specializing in the acquisition of patent assets, which would be ready to pay 600 million dollars for the acquisition of patents mainly related to mobile devices, messaging and wireless networks.
The move comes weeks after BlackBerry ended service for its business smartphones.
Who is Catapult?
Catapult IP Innovations Inc is located in Delaware.
It exists specifically to acquire the so-called “legacy” intellectual properties of BlackBerry.
This Monday, Catapult, agreed to pay 600 million US dollars as part of the acquisition of a series of patents from BlackBerry.
A $450 million senior secured term loan will provide Catapult's primary funding for the acquisition of the patents.
The remaining $150 million will not be paid to BlackBerry for three years.
The money Catapult borrowed for this takeover came from a syndicate of lenders led by Toronto-based Third Eye Capital.
The objective of this acquisition
Thanks to this acquisition, Catapult hopes to monetize these patents in court during possible lawsuits.
To illustrate this strategy, we must remember the lawsuit of BlackBerry against Facebook Messenger in 2018. In this case, BlackBerry had denounced the violation of its patents on the encryption of messages, on mobile notifications and on the integration of games into its Facebook messaging.
6,000 patents recovered
In all, Catapult will acquire approximately 38,000 patents.
They relate to BlackBerry's mobile devices, messaging, and wireless networking technologies.
BlackBerry will license the patents sold and customers should feel no impact from using its products or services.
Note that BlackBerry did not include in the agreement the patents essential to its core cybersecurity business.
A shift towards cybersecurity
With Windows Mobile and Nokia, BlackBerry had become a major player in mobile telephony before the iPhone revolutionized the market in 2007. The company had made a name for itself thanks to its telephones equipped with a tiny Qwerty physical keyboard and to the BBM instant messaging service.
Today, BlackBerry focuses its efforts on two main activities.
The first concerns cybersecurity for companies and public administrations.
And the second, software used by automakers for smart vehicles.
It should be noted that the completion of the entire transaction depends on the satisfaction of certain regulatory conditions.
In particular, those set out in the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act in the United States and the Investment Canada Act.
A process that could take up to 210 days.
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