US-based patent-holding firm Intellectual Ventures has received new investments from Microsoft and Sony, despite previous investors Apple and Intel declining to participate in its latest funding round, Reuters has reported citing undisclosed sources that have been briefed on the fundraising.
IV has raised about $6bn and acquired 70,000 patents and other intellectual property assets over the past 10 years. Reuters claims the company is currently raising another $3bn in investment.
IV has enjoyed the backing of big name tech companies and has reportedly raised over $5.5bn of its funds from companies including Google, Yahoo, Adobe, Ebay and Nokia.
Critics have accused IV of generating income not from its own products, but from patents of pre-existing inventions that it has bought before pressuring large companies into paying licensing fees for their use. IV, however, says that is simply preserving the intellectual property that it owns, as is required by the US Patent and Trademark Office.