Context: VideoLabs Inc is a patent licensing firm co-founded by former members of the in-house IP function at Kudelski Group, a Swiss digital TV and communications company. Initially focused on a quasi-pool model for video-related patents, VideoLabs has since acquired multiple portfolios in other technology fields and has diversified its monetization strategy.
What’s new: VideoLabs today announced the acquisition of a portfolio from Ericsson relevant to networking infrastructure, cybersecurity, and related areas (more details below).
Direct impact: The assigned patents will be held by VideoLabs subsidiary Certitude Networks LLC, which will aim to license them “to the companies that build and operate the world’s cloud and networking infrastructure,” as per a VideoLabs press release.
Wider ramifications: VideoLabs also recently acquired a portfolio from Texas Instruments (September 9, 2026 IAM article). That assignment comprised 39 patents from five families relevant to the HEVC H.265 and VVC H.266 video coding standards. The VideoLabs subsidiary that holds the portfolio, Streamline IP LLC, simultaneously obtained exclusive rights to license an additional 140-plus patents across 26 families that remain assigned to Texas Instruments.
According to the press release, the acquired portfolio includes 332 patent assets across 89 distinct patent families. In addition to core U.S. assets, the portfolio has European, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, South Korean, Canadian, Brazilian, and Australian assets, among others.
The patents are the result of Ericsson’s “coherent, decades-long effort to re-architect the network from fixed-function hardware into programmable, virtualized, cloud-native infrastructure,” the statement says.
The portfolio covers a variety of technologies including:
- Software-defined networking (SDN) and programmable network control
- Network function virtualization (NFV)
- Service chaining
- Cloud and data center resource creation and orchestration
- Storage provisioning
- Data replication
- Container virtualization and container security
- Network performance monitoring and analytics
- Traffic engineering, load balancing and quality of service
- Network security, including DDoS defense, distributed-attack detection, key management, and secure isolation
In a statement, Mathias Hellman, Vice President of IP Rights Strategy at Ericsson, said:
“Ericsson has sold certain patents to VideoLabs as one of several ways to receive a reasonable reward for the technology we create… Our different approaches to monetization, including patent divestments, provide flexibility to address a diverse market in an optimal manner.”
Joe Chernesky, CEO of VideoLabs, said:
“These are the technologies that hyperscalers, networking vendors and security companies rely on every day. For the companies that operate this infrastructure, a license provides freedom to operate with technologies that are critical to their products and services. VideoLabs and its subsidiaries operate a principled licensing platform, and we will make this intellectual property available through fair and transparent licensing.”