Michael A. Terrell wrote:

JVC was part of a small consortium that bought the rights to Ampex's
cartridge video tape design when they decided not to enter the consumer
video tape market. IIRC, they paid a measly $10,000 for everything.

I believe RCA sold all its TV patents in the 1950s or early 1960s for
only $500,000 per Japanese company. On the other hand, IBM not only
charged royalties based on sales but also required Japanese companies
to give it rights to any new inventions even remotely based on its
original patents.