Digital Rights Management Pioneer ContentGuard Files Patent Infringement Action Against Amazon, Apple, Blackberry, Huawei, And Motorola Mobility

PLANO, Texas, Dec. 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Texas-based ContentGuard Holdings, Inc. (or "ContentGuard"), a subsidiary of Pendrell Corporation (NASDAQ: PCO), announced today that it has initiated litigation for patent infringement against Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN), Blackberry Corporation (NASDAQ: BBRY), Huawei Device USA, Inc., and Motorola Mobility LLC. The nine patents at issue in the case represent a small portion of the more than 300 issued patents and more than 160 pending patent applications that embody two decades of innovative research, invention, and product development in content management and protection technologies.  

Many of the world's mobile phones, tablets and e-readers produced today rely on ContentGuard's digital rights management technologies ("DRM") to safeguard music, movies, television shows, games, documents and other content from piracy.  In addition to ContentGuard's incorporation of these innovations into its own products and services, many of the world's leading technology and electronics companies have recognized the importance of ContentGuard's content management solutions and have licensed them for use in their products, including Microsoft, Nokia, Sony, Time Warner, LG, Toshiba, Panasonic, NEC, Fujitsu, Sanyo, Sharp, Hitachi, Casio, Pantech, Technicolor and others.  The foundational nature of ContentGuard's innovations is underscored by the fact that since its inception, ContentGuard has previously only filed litigation against one other company to prevent the illegal use of its intellectual property.

"Many leading companies around the world have recognized the value of our technological innovations and have been willing to pay a fair and reasonable amount to lawfully use these innovations in their own products," commented James Baker, ContentGuard's vice president for licensing and strategic development.  "Unfortunately, other companies have chosen to take the opposite approach, continuing to unlawfully use ContentGuard's intellectual property even after acknowledging that they should pay for its use.  After significant time, effort, and expense has been invested by ContentGuard to resolve these matters amicably, it is unfortunate that we are forced to resort to the courts to protect the significant investment we have made in innovation."

About ContentGuard: A Track Record of Products and Innovation

With its origins in the mid-1990s within Xerox Corporation's renowned Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), and established as a stand-alone company in 2000 by Xerox and Microsoft, ContentGuard is a leading inventor, developer and licensor of DRM and related content distribution patents and technologies.  ContentGuard's intellectual property (IP) portfolio features more than 300 patents and 169 pending patent applications worldwide.  ContentGuard has invested more than $100 million to develop the technology and bring it to market.  ContentGuard pioneered the creation of the foundational technologies that facilitated the creation of the business models and marketplace for digital content distribution that are commonplace today.  ContentGuard also developed several product lines of enterprise-class software to enable the management and protection of digital content. 

ContentGuard has made its technologies available for license on reasonable terms and provides ongoing research and collaboration on digital rights management initiatives with leading electronics manufacturers.  Owned jointly by Pendrell Corporation (NASDAQ: PCO) and Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), ContentGuard continues to innovate with 25 new patents issued and three new licenses entered into with major electronics manufacturers since 2012. More information about ContentGuard can be found at contentguard.pendrell.com.

SOURCE ContentGuard