Is the ongoing $1.1 billion merger of TiVo and Rovi an attempt to create one of the biggest patent trolls the video industry has ever seen?
That was essentially the question put forth Thursday to TiVo interim CEO Naveen Chopra at the Jefferies 2016 Technology Conference.
"It's an interesting question because for many people the immediate reaction, the immediate interpretations when we announced the deal was hey, here are two companies that have big significant patent portfolios in the video ecosystem, this must be a patent play," Chopra said in an SEC transcript, uncovered by Multichannel News. "I think it's a good opportunity to clarify that in fact this deal was not premised on a patent strategy. The reality is we both have perfectly strong patent portfolios and have a lot of upside on our IP on an independent basis. And sure bringing them together creates a company with a bigger patent portfolio with more diversity, longer duration etcetera.
"But the deal was really about creating a bigger products company, a bigger operating company, with more diversity of revenue, more diversity of customers, more diversity of products," Chopra added.
You can read the full transcript to Chopra's interview here.