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Network-1 Acquires Patent Portfolio Related to the Identification of Media Content
Mar 07, 2013 (Close-Up Media via COMTEX) --
Network-1 Security Solutions, Inc., a company engaged in the acquisition, development, licensing and monetization of intellectual property, announced the acquisition of a patent portfolio from Dr. Ingemar Cox, a provider of digital watermarking, content identification, digital rights management, and related technologies, covering advanced technologies relating to the identification and monetization of media content.
According to a release, the newly acquired patent portfolio includes four issued United States patents relating to enabling technology for identifying media content, such as music and videos, and taking further action to be performed based on such identification, including among others, the insertion of advertising and the facilitation of the purchase of goods and services relating to the uploaded content. The patents (U.S. Patent No. 7,058,223, No. 8,010,988, No. 8,020,187 and No. 8,205,237) are based on a patent application filed in 2000 and have patent terms extending into 2023. The portfolio also includes a pending United States patent application. Network-1 anticipates continuing to prosecute the pending patent application and plans on filing several new patent applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office based on the inventions contemplated by Dr. Cox's original patent filings.
"The acquisition of this patent portfolio is part of our continuing strategy to acquire intellectual property that we believe has significant licensing opportunities," said Corey M. Horowitz, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Network-1. Horowitz further said "there has been tremendous growth in the uploading of media content to the Internet over the past decade. The ability to identify content being uploaded to protect against copyright infringement, combined with the ability to facilitate e-commerce transactions based on the identification and tagging of such content is at the core of Dr. Cox's inventions. We plan on further developing these pioneering inventions with Professor Cox and pursuing licensing opportunities for these technologies."
Dr. Cox is currently Professor and Director of Research at University College London and Head of its Future Media Group. In connection with the acquisition of the portfolio, Dr. Cox has agreed to provide consulting services to Network-1 with respect to the acquired patents and the related pending and future patent applications and will assist in Network-1's efforts to develop and monetize the patent portfolio.
The purchase price for the patent portfolio consisted of $1,000,000 in cash and 403,226 shares of Network-1 common stock. In addition, Professor Cox is entitled to 12.5 percent of the net proceeds realized from the monetization of the patent portfolio.
Dr. Cox was formerly a member of the Technical Staff at AT&T Bell Labs and a Fellow at NEC Research Institute. He is a Fellow of the IEEE, the IET (formerly IEE), and the British Computer Society and is a member of the UK Computing Research Committee. He was founding co-editor in chief of the IEE Proc. On Information Security and wasan associate editor of the IEEE Trans. on Information Forensics and Security. He is co-author of a book entitled "Digital Watermarking" and its second edition "Digital Watermarking and Steganography". He is an inventor on 35 United States Patents, and an author of many highly cited peer reviewed papers.
Dr. Cox, said, "I am pleased that Network-1 recognized the importance of my work with respect to media delivery systems. I look forward to working with Network-1 as a business partner to continue to fully develop the portfolio and to take advantage of the numerous licensing opportunities for the technologies outlined therein," he added. "Without this kind of support, it is difficult for an individual inventor like myself to obtain adequate resources to pursue my intellectual property development."
Network-1 Security Solutions is engaged in the acquisition, development, licensing and protection of its intellectual property and proprietary technologies.
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