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Post-Smartphone (Wearables & IoT Devices) Patent Wars: Indicators of Expansion
Indicator Details
M&A
Activities
M&A is the most effective strategy to adapt to the evolution of the IoT business ecosystems initialed
by the dynamic reconstruction of value chains. Extensive M&A activities indicate the race to have the
leadership in the lucrative IoT market. As we have seen in the smartphone market, it is expected that
the super-competition to have the leadership in the emerging IoT market can lead to another round of
patent wars.
According to 451 Research, there were 39 M&A transactions to buy IoT related companies at $14.8 B
between January 1, 2015 and April 30, 2015. In 2014, there were 62 M&A transactions to buy IoT
related companies at $14.3 B.
The largest deal was NXP's acquisition of Freescale Semiconductor at $11.8 B to become the market
leader in automotive semiconductor solutions for the connected cars. Most recently, Intel acquired the
smart eyewear company Recon, a Google Glass competitor, at $175 M on June 17.
Patent
Arms
According to the UK Intellectual Property Office, patenting activity for the IoT related technologies is
rapidly expanding with over 40% of average growth rate between 2004 and 2013.

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Race
Google acquired the smart home company Nest Lab with more than 100 issued patents and more than
200 patent applications.
Jawbone acquired the wearable health tracking devices company BodyMedia more than 100 issued
and pending patents.
Microsoft acquired more than 80 issued and pending patents for wearable technology from Osterhout
Design Group.
Litigation
Activities
For the increasing patent infringement litigations, please refer followings.
1. Post-Smartphone (Wearables & IoT Devices) Patent Wars: Current Status
Link: http://www.slideshare.net/alexglee/postsmartphone-wearables-iot-devices-patent-wars-current-
status
2. Increasing Litigation Risk with Increasing NPE Activities Exploiting the IoT (Internet of things)
Wireless Connectivity Patents
Link: http://www.slideshare.net/alexglee/increasing-litigation-risk-with-increasing-npe-activities-

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exploiting-the-iot-internet-of-things-wireless-connectivity-patents
For more information, please contact Alex Lee at alexglee@techipm.com.