Few M&E publications or industry analysts batted an eyelid when, in October 2025, InterDigital announced the acquisition of Deep Render, a London-based AI start-up majoring in video and image compression. InterDigital being InterDigital, the masterplan behind this unassuming deal is a very long-term one geared towards strengthening its AI-native video research and patent portfolio. Even for seasoned veterans in video compression, Deep Render is not a name that has drifted onto many radars. This is because the 25-person start-up never reached productization stage for its specialized encoding and decoding software before InterDigital came sniffing. So, was this a product-led acquisition or a patent-hungry purchase? The answer is neither, according to Lionel Oisel, VP of Research and Innovation at InterDigital, speaking…