Instacart, an online grocery platform in North America, has acquired over 250 patents from IBM. In addition, IBM and Instacart entered into a mutual patent cross license.
The agreement allows Instacart to continue to strengthen its own patent portfolio, and the license gives Instacart freedom of action to use IBM patents in the future growth of its business. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“IBM has had a long standing commitment to innovation and the sharing of our patented inventions within the industry, especially high-growth technology companies like Instacart that are establishing innovative solutions for critically needed food delivery during these challenging times. We look forward to a long term innovation partnership with Instacart,” said William LaFontaine, General Manager of Intellectual Property for IBM.
“We’re pleased to have an innovation partnership with IBM. This acquisition of patents from IBM and licensing agreement provides us with stronger intellectual property protection and gives us even more freedom to innovate for all the customers, shoppers and retailers who rely on our platform,” said Edison Lin, Intellectual Property Counsel at Instacart.
IBM is the world’s leading hybrid cloud platform and Artificial Intelligence company. The company invests more than $6 billion annually in research and development, and relies on its patents to protect that investment.
Since 1920, IBM has received more than 150,000 U.S. patents and played a crucial role in innovations ranging from magnetic storage to laser eye surgery. IBM recently announced it has topped the U.S. Patent List for the 28th consecutive year, receiving 9,130 patents in 2020. Of note, last year IBM led the industry in the number of AI, cloud, quantum computing, and security related patents granted to IBM scientists and researchers.
