VirnetX Shares Jumped: What You Need to Know

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of mobile patent wrangler VirnetX (ASE: VHC) jumped as high as 10.6% on average-volume intraday trading.

So what: This is the second double-digit jump in as many days for VirnetX, all amid buyout rumors as the patent wars in the smartphone sector continue to heat up. Today's reminder of the importance of a strong intellectual property portfolio comes courtesy of Apple (NAS: AAPL) and Samsung, whose international conflicts over patents and copyrighted designs are making news on three continents.

Now what: VirnetX supporters are quick to tell you that its security patents are as much as required for implementing a real 4G wireless service -- which is not the same as the souped-up 3G connections being marketed under the next-generation name today. That would make the company an obvious buyout target for jousting patent knights from Apple to Google (NAS: GOOG) and Microsoft (NAS: MSFT) . However, even if this patent portfolio is of central importance (which is up for discussion, as others could design workarounds and alternative solutions to the same security issues), it's a small cache compared to those of Motorola Mobility (NYS: MMI) and InterDigital (NAS: IDCC) , whose mobile patents number in the thousands rather than dozens. Quality or quantity? Gentlemen, choose your weapons!

Interested in more info on VirnetX? Add it to your watchlist.

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