Internet search pioneer Lycos selling patents
Internet search pioneer Lycos on Wednesday said it is selling some of its technology patents as the company prepares to lauch "a suite of hard good products."
Patents being put on the block by the Internet enterprise spun out of Carnegie Mellon University in 1994 ranged from search engine technology to online advertising and gaming, according to Lycos.
"For us, it is of strategic importance to utilize all assets of the company in a manner consistent with current market trends, as well as our collaborative corporate culture, " Lycos president Brad Cohen said in a release.
Lycos retained intellectual property broker The Propeller(y) to handle selling or licensing some of the patented technology in its portfolio.
"We are excited to work with such an advanced portfolio," said Stayko Staykov of Propeller(y).
Staykov said patents being put up for sale by Lycos describe "technologies that are critically relevant for the online and mobile industries, while having applications in emerging fields such as Internet of Things."
Lycos has evolved from a search engine to a "digital media destination" online. The company did not provide details on hard good products it said would debut in coming weeks.
Lycos was one of the early search engines along with Yahoo, AltaVista and others in the early days of the Web in the mid-1990s. It was later sold to Spain-based Terra Networks, then to South Korea's Daum Communications and later to India's Ybrant Digital.
© 2015 AFP
