Round "AOL" Goes to Microsoft...

One of today's top stories was Microsoft's winning bid of just over $1 billion for 800 AOL patents related to advertising, search, e-commerce, and mobile commerce. Reports indicate that the sale includes technology rights from numerous AOL businesses, ranging from Netscape, ICQ and MapQuest to CompuServe, Advertising.com and others.

The AOL deal is the largest known patent auctions to date at roughly $1.3 million per issued patent. That is noticeably higher than the bankrupt Nortel Networks patent "blowout" auction last year of 6000 patents at $4.5 billion, or roughly $1.05 million per patent.

MSN Money has an excellent article that covers the story. 

The Bottom Line - As I discuss in my recent book, Living in the Innovation Age, technology companies such as Apple, Google, and Microsoft have frantically been snapping up patents to strengthen both their competitive and legal positions and in the process they've been bidding up the prices of these coveted patent portfolios.