IPG Photonics Corp., an Oxford, Mass.-based maker of fiber lasers and amplifiers, announced today it has purchased more than 100 US patents, and more than 340 foreign counterparts, by acquiring a photonics patent portfolio from British Telecom. The acquired patents involve research by British Telecom in the photonics field dating to the 1990s in the fields of optical fiber lasers and amplifiers, semiconductor devices, integrated optics, fiber gratings, high-speed systems and optical networking. IPG said it is particularly interested in early patents for single-mode lasers. “With the purchase of these important patents, IPG’s intellectual property portfolio is unparalleled in the fiber laser field,” said IPG Photonics CEO Valentin P. Gapontsev. “These patents complement our strong IP portfolio, including the growing number of pending-patent applications that we already have.” For more information, visit: ipgphotonics.com