Celerity IP, an intellectual property management company led by patent monetization veterans Chad Hilyard and Tim Berghuis, announced today that it has entered into agreements to be the exclusive agent for the licensing and enforcement of two separate portfolios of standard essential patents (“SEPs”) originally developed by consumer electronics giant ASUSTek, Inc. (“ASUS”) and currently owned by ASUS and Innovative Sonic, Ltd. (the “Portfolios”).

The combined Portfolios include over 300 patent families containing thousands of patents essential to the 3G, 4G and 5G cellular standards and continues to grow as new patents are issued and as development of the 5G standard continues. Patents in many of the families have been independently reviewed and accepted to cellular SEP licensing pools run by Via and Avanci.

Celerity IP is led by CEO Chad Hilyard and President and Strategic Advisor Tim Berghuis. Hilyard was previously Chief Legal Officer at Hilco IP Merchant Banking where he had significant responsibility for licensing and litigating SEPs, including as General Counsel for PanOptis and Unwired Planet during its landmark litigation in the UK. Hilyard also previously served as Chief Intellectual Property Counsel at Rockstar Consortium.

Tim Berghuis was previously Chief Licensing Officer at InterDigital, where he worked for over 19 years. At InterDigital Berghuis planned and led the successful execution of a licensing program for one of the world’s largest cellular SEP portfolios. During Berghuis’ tenure, InterDigital achieved licensing revenue exceeding $300 million annually.

Hilyard stated “we are honored to work with these portfolios, which were built by a world-class technology company as they invested and contributed over many years to the development of cellular standards.” Berghuis added, “these are remarkable portfolios in both their size and depth of high-quality assets. As we evaluated these portfolio, we grew increasingly excited about the opportunity.”

ASUS General Counsel Vincent Hong commented “the Celerity team is best-in-class and we are very pleased that they are the exclusive agent for these Portfolios.”

Celerity IP, LLC is an intellectual property management firm specializing in the development, licensing and monetization of patent portfolios with market significance. Its executives have played key roles in the negotiation and execution of billions in patent license agreements. Celerity IP is a subsidiary of GLS Capital, a leading provider of commercial litigation finance solutions. GLS Capital invests in a wide variety of complex situations dependent upon legal or regulatory risk.