Former Hitachi Executive to Lead RPX Asia

Former Hitachi Ltd. executive, Hisao Yamasaki, has joined RPX Corp., the leading provider of patent risk solutions. Yamasaki will serve as president of RPX Asia, responsible for client relations and new client development in the region. He will be based in the San Francisco company’s new offices in Tokyo.

Yamasaki, 46, joins RPX following a 25-year career at Hitachi where he served in several executive positions dedicated to patent management. Most recently, Yamasaki was general manager of IP business development and licensing, responsible for all business aspects of Hitachi and its subsidiaries’ intellectual property assets, including licensing strategies and operations, and patent portfolio transactions.

The RPX Asia offices will be located in the Marunouchi Building, at 2-4-1 Marunouchi Chiyoda-ku, 9^th floor, Tokyo, 100-6309 Japan.“Yamasaki-san’s patent market knowledge, experience and strong leadership qualities made him the perfect candidate to lead our ambitious plans in Asia,” said John Amster, CEO of RPX. “He joins us at an important time when we need a local presence to service our 12 Asia-based clients and as we continue to expand our worldwide client network.”

Added Yamasaki: “Leaving Hitachi after 25 years was an extremely difficult decision. After leaving, I was quite pleased that the opportunity to join RPX arose. I believe that the company is doing something extremely important for technology companies worldwide, and especially for Asian technology companies, which are not immune to NPE litigation by any means. In less than two years, RPX has demonstrated it can positively impact a company’s bottom line, and I want to be part of bringing that benefit to more companies in our region.”

RPX was founded in 2008 to reduce patent assertion and litigation initiated by non-practicing entities, which cost technology companies around the world billions of dollars annually.

RPX combines its ability to deploy principal capital with subscription fees from its client network to acquire potentially dangerous patents, removing them from the market before they can be used offensively. Clients pay annual fees ranging from $40,000 to $5.2 million depending on company size, and automatically receive rights to the entire RPX patent portfolio. Nearly a quarter of RPX’s 57 clients are Asian-headquartered companies.

To date, RPX has invested over $240 million to acquire nearly 1,500 patents and patent rights across six major market sectors: consumer electronics and PCs, e-commerce and software, media content and distribution, mobile communications and devices, networking, and semiconductors. RPX promises it will never assert patents or patent rights in its portfolio.