Patent Law

Under Pressure

By Gary Odom and Jordan Kuhn

Paris-based Alcatel SA bought the technology rump of Ma Bell in late 2006 - Lucent Technologies. The firm has been hyperactive in asserting patents from the combined portfolio. With good reason. Market capitalization has halved since the merger. CEO Patricia Russo and Chair Serge Tchuruk are besieged by shareholders for lack of performance.

But shareholders are more often than not rubes with deep pockets. The Wall Street Journal:

Analysts have noted that even a new CEO would struggle to fix the structural issues facing the company. Shareholders, some decidedly unhappy with the share-price performance, peppered management with questions at the occasionally rowdy meeting. Mohammed Karim Lahjouji, an individual shareholder who said he had lost ?100,000 ($155,000) as Alcatel-Lucent's share price dropped, railed against the management: "I don't understand your ethics, I don't understand your performance. It's scandalous, I've had enough."

Ethics is an arcane albatross for capitalist junkies needing the next fix of cash flow injection.

Expect Alcatel-Lucent to continue to aggressively mine their considerable patent veins.

Full post as published by The Patent Prospector on June 01, 2008 (boomark / email).