Intel to buy wireless patents from Interdigital for $375 million

Chipmaker Intel Corp has agreed to buy wireless patents and patent applications from intellectual property developer InterDigital Communications Corp for $375 million.

The move comes five months after Intel acquired about 190 streaming media patents from RealNetworks for $120 million in order to protect itself against claims from rivals on video technologies, and also block rivals using the same intellectual property. (See: Intel to buy about 190 patents from RealNetworks for $120 million)http://www.domain-b.com/companies/companies_I/Intel/20120128_networks_oneView.html

Pennsylvania-based InterDigital, which in January had failed to sell itself, will sell about 1,700 patents related to 3G, LTE and 802.11 technologies.

InterDigital is an active developer of advanced wireless technologies including WCDMA (Wideband CDMA), HSDPA (High Speed Download Packet Access) and HSUPA (High Speed Upload Packet Access) 3G technologies as well as LTE (Long Term Evolution) and LTE-Advanced 4G technologies.

These technologies are the latest in wireless communication and are being currently deployed across multiple platforms in mobile handsets and tablet computers.

InterDigital said the Intel deal involves selling a small part of its patents and will make money from its intellectual property through sales, licensing agreements and other deals.