Quote:Against that litigious backdrop, on 4 March 2011,
Apple quietly acquired Icon and 11 other Mitsubishi patents.
(Presumably, Apple either paid the Japanese company for the
portfolio or did an in‑kind exchange of IP, but neither firm
would comment.)
Just five months later, Apple transferred those dozen
patents to an entity called Cliff Island, a shell company
created by Digitude Innovations. Headquartered in
Alexandria, Va., Digitude describes itself as a patent
acquisition and licensing company. Some IP experts, however,
call it a patent troll, which to judge by its activities in
this case, seems apt. Digitude was founded in early 2010
largely through a $50 million investment from Altitude
Capital Partners, a private equity IP firm based in New York
City. In November 2011, Icon and one other Mitsubishi patent
(6,208,879—we’ll refer to it as Friend of Icon) were
officially conveyed from Cliff Island to Digitude. 

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RMS: The 4 Freedoms
0 run the program for any purpose
1 study the source code and change it
2 make copies and distribute them
3 publish modified versions
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