It looks like that Orange County, Calif, based Mindspeed Technologies has found a new source of revenue stream to supplement its revenue from product sale. A press release issued on 21 July 2008 - on the same date that the company reported its 3Q fiscal results suggested that it raised USD 10 Million on the sale of non-core patents. Details of the sale are said to be confidential and no details of the patents sold were issued.
The interesting question is, of course, what patents are involved. Rob vaguely remembers seeing Mindspeed PDAs a few years ago - and his favourite patent database (DEPATISNET) suggests that Mindspeed does have (had?) a small portfolio of patent applications relating to smart telephones and the like. So - have these been sold. And to whom? It looks like we'll have to wait a few weeks to see if the assignments appear on the US PTO's database or EPOLINE.
