Research in Motion may have just had its last annual meeting with shareholders, if the many dire predictions about its fate come true. Alexander Poltorak commented on what went wrong with a company whose shares are currently 95 percent lower than they were at their peak just four years ago. ("Reasons to Doubt Research In Motion's M&A Prospects" TheStreet.com - July 10, 2012)
Article excerpt: Alexander Poltorak, chief executive of patent enforcement firm General Patent [Corp.], says that Research In Motion's intellectual property may be worth far less than some expect because it was slow to patent some of the messaging and email technologies that it innovated and which built the appeal of the BlackBerry.
"They were technology smart, but they were patent foolish," says Poltorak, who notes that comparisons between its patents and those of Nortel (NRTLQ) or Motorola Mobility are overstated.
"People who are valuing RIM patents at billions of dollars should look at Kodak," he says.
Not a pretty picture.