With Vivint this summer launching Vivint Sky, a new cloud-based smart home solution featuring the company’s own control panel and software, an announcement this week that Vivint has taken steps to protect its intellectual property with patents really is not surprising. Vivint has entered into a long-term partnership with Intellectual Ventures (IV), based in Bellevue, Wash., IV announced Sept. 16. The company is one of the nation’s largest patent holders in the world, according to CNNMoney.

IV says it holds more than 40,000 patents in 50 technology areas.

CNNMoney says they’re in fields that include health care, communications and energy.

Provo, Utah-based home automation/home security giant Vivint is now a customer of IV’s IP for Defense program, according to IV’s news release.

“Under this agreement,” the IV release said, “Vivint was granted rights to IV’s extensive patent portfolio and obtained more than 20 patents in areas of interest to the company.”

IV says that “companies in rapidly growing industries rely on IV to provide ongoing guidance on the invention rights relevant to their product roadmaps. IV’s IP for Defense program is also designed to level the playing field for companies faced with claims from competitors—a common issue many businesses now have to address. Under this agreement, Vivint can purchase patents from IV’s portfolio on an as needed basis to protect its business.”

But CNNMoney recently termed IV “the world’s most notorious patent troll company.”

Wikipedia defines a patent troll as “a person or company who enforces patent rights against accused infringers in an attempt to collect licensing fees, but does not manufacture products or supply services based upon the patents in question, thus engaging in economic rent-seeking.”