Future bright for licensing firm as Nokia’s ex-head of patents joins
Ilkka Rahnasto has joined patent licensing company Marconi as senior vice president after stepping down as head of Nokia’s patent business, with lawyers saying Marconi will benefit from having such a leading IP specialist.
Marconi, which operates multiple collective licensing platforms including Velos Media and Avanci, announced the news on Tuesday, November 6.
Last month, WIPR reported on Rahnasto’s departure from Nokia Technologies, a division of the telecoms company responsible for developing consumer products and licensing technology.
It has now been revealed that Rahnasto, who was previously based in Espoo, Finland, has joined Marconi in Dallas, Texas.
According to the licensing company, Rahnasto joins IP leaders who were previously based at Ericsson, Google, Motorola, and Qualcomm.
In his new position, Rahnasto will “play a vital role in driving the creation of platforms across existing and new technology verticals”, Marconi said.
Richard Vary, partner at Bird & Bird in London and former head of litigation at Nokia, said that Rahnasto’s addition is “good news” for Marconi, as Rahnasto brings with him “great experience and knowledge of the market”.
He added: “Marconi has some great people. But Ilkka is an exceptional talent, so this may be the beginning of a successful chapter for Marconi.”
Thomas Adam, partner at Peterreins Schley in Munich, Germany, agreed: “The experience gained in negotiating licensing deals for industry players over decades is extremely valuable for a licensing entity and will add to its clout and credibility vis-a-vis such industry players.”
He explained that such a move does not come as a surprise to someone familiar with the IP litigation and monetisation landscape, as licensing entities need the credibility of people like Rahnasto if they hope to attract further industry players or take licences.
Rahnasto served as head of Nokia’s patent business from 2014, before which he occupied the role of deputy chief legal officer for the company. In total, Rahnasto had a 21-year tenure at Nokia, where he played a key role in many of its licensing arrangements.
“His in-depth knowledge in all aspects of the intellectual property space and business expertise will be invaluable in helping realise Marconi’s vision of transforming the fundamentals of patent licensing,” Marconi’s statement said.
Rahnasto was responsible for leading Nokia Technologies’ licensing and patent management efforts across the world and, last year, the company’s patent and brand licensing revenue reached more than €1.6 billion ($1.8 billion).
Of the €369 million of net sales made by Nokia Technologies in the second quarter of 2017, €357 million related to patent and brand licensing.
Rahnasto’s move suggests that the lines between industry and licensing entities are beginning to blur, according to Adam.
He explained that this is already apparent, as “more and more” IP aggregators have appeared and industry players have started to entrust external licensing entities with the enforcement of certain portfolios in specific fields.
This is one way of discharging the “burdensome logistics” of enforcing your own patent portfolio, Adam said.
For Vary, Rahnasto’s move indicates that the future of patent licensing is moving towards a collective model.
“With wireless connectivity increasingly incorporated into devices, we will see more patent owners, and more licensees, and it starts to become difficult to manage licensing through purely bilateral licences,” he explained.
Vary added that, in the copyright sphere, “licensing is largely done on a collective basis for exactly this reason, and in this technology [wireless connectivity] area, the patent world is moving that way too”.
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