Every government employee’s favorite handset brand – Blackberry – is ready to say goodbye to its cell phone era by exiting it with a $600 million loot bag in the form of patent sales.
А “special-purpose vehicle” which may or may not become a patent troll afterwards, has been formed for the transaction. The so-called Catapult IP Innovations entity will acquire BlackBerry’s mobile patents with a $450 million loan from a lending syndicate where Third Eye Capital from Toronto is taking the lead.
Patents that are essential to BlackBerry’s current core business operations are excluded from the transaction. BlackBerry will receive a license back to the patents being sold, which relate primarily to mobile devices, messaging and wireless networking. This transaction will not impact customers’ use of any of BlackBerry’s products, solutions or services.
