Gleaning the Left Grain
It was reported that Apple bought 11 patents from Korea-based Pantech. On July 18, Britain's patent-specialized media channel, IAM, quoted US Patent Office (USPTO) as saying that Apple acquired patents from Pantech in Korea through Gold Peak Innovation, a patent trader.
It is not known what parents Apple purchased from Pantech. As of the end of March this year, Pantech had 2,036 Korean patents and 1,111 overseas patents. The company mentioned the normalization of its management by selling its patents.
On October 31, last year, Pantech agreed to transfer 230 US patents to Gold Peak. This year, the company said that it will stop its smartphone business and focus on the Internet of things (IoT) module business.
Korean smartphone industry is concerned that Pantech's patents will be steadily sold to foreign companies. It can be a sort of national wealth outflow. As a result, there is a possibility that Pantech's patents will be passed on to other companies in the US, India, and China through Gold Peak and other channels.