Liquid Audio Sells Its Patent Portfolio To Microsoft

from the who-needs-patents dept

David writes "Yes, you read it correctly. Liquid Audio has announced that the company has sold its collection of patents related to DRM and secure transfer to portables to Microsoft for $7 million. Perhaps one of the more interesting things would be patents related to regional tracking of royaties, the ugly puzzle of digital distribution. Seems like a low price to me, but Liquid says the sale of assets relates to their new business strategy aligned with Alliance Entertainement (a company which, to the best of my understanding, has not been known for its bottom line)." I saw this earlier, but wasn't sure what to post about it. It always seemed to me that Liquid Audio's entire business was based on their DRM technology - and selling off the patents (albeit with a "free" license to continue using them) seems very odd. It sounds as though it's basically a last gasp effort to get in some cash.

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