Venture firm picks up Transmeta chip patents

Updated at 10:45 p.m. PST with additional information about Intellectual Ventures

Intellectual Ventures has acquired the patent portfolio of Transmeta, an erstwhile supplier of low-power Intel-compatible x86 processors.

Intellectual Venture Funding, an affiliate of Intellectual Ventures, has picked up 140 U.S. patents and additional pending patent applications owned by Transmeta, which was acquired by privately held Novafora in November of last year.

The Transmeta technology will be used "through two distinct routes," according to an Intellectual Ventures' statement. Novafora will improve its own proprietary designs by using some of the technologies invented by Transmeta. And Intellectual Ventures will provide other companies with access to Transmeta's former patent rights under non-exclusive licensing terms.

The portfolio contains many patents issued in the last few years and has generated, in total, approximately $300 million in revenue, the firm said.

Transmeta's claim to fame as a low-power x86-compatible chip supplier was transitory, and in 2007, about seven years after the company formed, it restructured and ceased being a chipmaker. It reorganized as a Rambus-like IP (intellectual property) company that sues other companies for patent infringement. Transmeta's technology is centered on "code morphing" techniques and very long instruction word (VLIW) design architecture.

"These (patent) additions cover inventions in high-performance, low-power, and embedded processors," Paul Reidy, vice president of semiconductor licensing at Intellectual Ventures, said in a statement.

Intellectual Ventures was founded by Nathan Myhrvold after he retired from his position as chief strategist and chief technology officer of Microsoft.

[lordmorgul]

"some of the most interesting breakthroughs in microprocessor architecture"....

Of course that is what HE would say, as someone who represents the firm that just PAID MONEY for the patents he is describing. Why not actually ask someone who looks like (even a little bit) an impartial professional in the computer architecture industry?

[lordmorgul]

I didn't mean that comment to really sound derogatory to the author or even to suggest the patents are not interesting, it is just important for readers to keep in mind that a VC who just got in bed has a rose-colored viewpoint.

I haven't seen that much of what TransMeta was doing, but what I did see awhile back looked like a direction I don't expect to be successful in a market that is now heavily focused on low-power multi-core designs.

[userNoname]

Quite surprise it took so long someone has noticed there's a bunch of great technologies. Yep, Transmeta's low-power x86-compatible Crusoe used to be famous albeit a short period of time. However the technology behind it has still a potential, maybe even greater now than it used to have. One-core architecture is dead, hands down. Many-core (Cell, Larrabee) architecture is the way to go. The more core you harness, the more crucial is power consumption per core. With Transmeta's technology, you easily scale up CPU output by mere adding cores. Yay, future's bright again.

[a100024]

One of the Transmeta people from the past was Linus Torvalds.

LT: "patents are very much used to stop competition, which is undeniably the most powerful way to encourage innovation. Anybody who argues for patents is basically arguing against open markets and competition," (http://www.simple-talk.com/opinion/geek-of-the-week/linus-torvalds,-geek-of-the-week/)

looks like Linus has changed his mind and is (at least indirectly) selling his inventions to pure IP player.

In Transmeta IPR portfolio Linus is inventor or co-inventor of at least 8 issued US patents: US7404181, US7331041, US7111096, US7096460, US6990658, US6880152, US6714904, US6615300 and US6594821

[Zandora777]

Intellectual Ventures is a patent troll company. They make no products, and they don't work with any companies to further technology or even to license their technology in any innovative ways. They simply go after anyone and anything that is already doing something that can be read as infringing, and demand millions of dollars or their army of lawyers will descend. This is the dark side of patents, not the bright side.

[zclayton2]

Maybe with the Festo decision knocking down the "doctrine of equivalents" patent troll companies may have to find a new business model.

[drburning]

Isn't a surprise for me that Intellectual Ventures have a Thomas Edison´s quote in their home page. Mercenaries's father of patents minefields. But they call it way "Invention Capital?".

[inachu]

So far from the last few years. Anyone who buys a portfolio of patents then they go class action lawsuit crazy.

[mikeburek]

I wonder what the lifestyle of IP lawyers is. Long days or short days? Houses like the movie stars?

It seems that once they get hired, the IP lawyers have unending billable hours.