OTTAWA, Canada – January 4, 2018 – Wi-LAN Inc. (“WiLAN”), a Quarterhill Inc.(“Quarterhill”) company (TSX: QTRH) (NASDAQ: QTRH), announced today that it has entered into a new seven‑year intellectual property framework agreement with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd. ("TSMC"), the world's leading semiconductor foundry.
The new framework agreement grants TSMC certain rights under semiconductor process technology patents currently owned by WiLAN. The agreement also establishes an annual subscription basis for TSMC to obtain rights to certain future semiconductor process technology patents acquired by WiLAN. The framework further includes patent assignments to TSMC based on a mutually agreed selection process.
Michael Vladescu, Chief Operating Officer for WiLAN commented, “This is a new type of transaction for WiLAN which is not only structured based on portfolios we own today but also includes a framework for future acquired portfolios. We hope this represents a mutually beneficial way to handle the business of patent licensing which we can apply in other situations.”
This agreement is separate from the agreement announced by WiLAN on April 1, 2016 regarding the Polaris Innovations Limited portfolio, which remains in place.
All other terms of the agreement are confidential.
About WiLAN
WiLAN, a Quarterhill company, is one of the most successful patent licensing companies in the world and helps companies unlock the value of intellectual property by managing and licensing their patent portfolios. The company operates in a variety of markets including automotive, digital television, Internet, medical, semiconductor and wireless communication technologies. For more information: www.wilan.com.
About Quarterhill
Quarterhill is a diversified investment holding company focused on growing its business by acquiring technology companies in the Industrial Internet of Things segment across multiple verticals. Quarterhill targets companies with a broad range of products and services that capture, analyze and interpret data, and that have strong financial performance, excellent management teams, strong intellectual property underpinnings and significant opportunities to develop long-term recurring and growing revenue streams. For more information: www.quarterhill.com.