Tech majors to join hands against patent suits - WSJ
ju4 wa4i dia4n zo1ng he2 ba4o da4o :\n  June 30 (Reuters) - Information technology giants are teaming\nup in defense against potential patent-infringement lawsuits, the\nWall Street Journal said on Sunday, citing people familiar with\nthe matter.\nThe companies plan to buy up key intellectual property before\nit falls into the hands of parties that could use it against\nthem, the paper said.\nThe paper's sources said the companies, which include Verizon\nCommunications Inc <VZ.N>, Google Inc <GOOG.O>, Cisco Systems Inc\n<CSCO.O>, Hewlett-Packard Co <HPQ.N> and Ericsson <ERICb.ST>, are\nbelieved to have a joined a group calling itself the Allied\nSecurity Trust.\nThe companies will pay roughly $250,000 to join the group and\nwill each put about $5 million into escrow with the organisation\nto go toward future patent purchases, the paper said.\nVerizon, Cisco and Google did not immediately return phone\ncalls seeking comment. HP and Ericsson could not be reached for\ncomment.\n(Reporting by Ajay Kamalakaran in Bangalore; Editing by Jennifer\nTan)\n((ajay.kamalakaran@thomsonreuters.com; within U.S. 1 646 223\n8780; outside U.S. 91 80 4135 5800; Reuters Messaging:\najay.kamalakaran.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))\nKeywords: TECHMAJORS/