Screen capture of Wi-Lan homepage.
Patent specialist Wi-LAN Inc. has acquired 60 U.S. mobile phone patents and foreign counterparts for $8-million from Glenayre Electronics Inc., the Ottawa-based company announced Wednesday.
"This acquisition interested Wi-LAN because the patent portfolio includes inventions that anticipated a number of the mobile phone functions commonly in use today," said chairman and CEO Jim Skippen in a release.
"Specifically, we believe that patents in the portfolio address aspects of mobile messaging and wireless data transmission and reception that are relevant to today's mobile phone market."
Wi-LAN primarily collects licensing fees from companies that use technologies covered by its portfolio of patents.
According to its most recent financial report, Wi-LAN's first-quarter revenue was up 65 per cent from a year earlier, rising to $26.3-million (U.S.) from $15.9-million.
Its net earnings for the period were $19.8-million or 17 cents per share, up from $1.1-million or one cent per share in the same period a year earlier.
Adjusted earnings, stripping out one-time items, hit a record $13-million or 11 cents per share, up from a year-ago $7.5-million or seven cents per share.