Pendrell Corp. plans to acquire more than 90 percent of ContentGuard, an El Segundo company that develops digital rights management patents, for $90.1 million.

Pendrell is a public company in Kirkland, Wash. that owns a variety of intellectual property and provides legal services for other owners. ContentGuard will be under its Pendrell Technologies subsidiary and remain in El Segundo.

ContentGuard develops technology that controls the use of digital media such as games and books. Some of its patents protect content, as well as the rights and economic interests of its owners, when it is transferred to a handheld device such as a mobile phone, e-reader or game console. The company was spun out of Xerox’s PARC research arm in 2000 and now owns more than 260 patents and has 160 pending patent applications.

“With approximately 50 percent of handsets worldwide licensed by ContentGuard, and substantial historical revenues, ContentGuard’s patent portfolio is well-proven,” Pendrell Chief Executive Ben Wolff said in a statement late Wednesday. “We believe that (its) technologies set the standard for protecting content in virtually every instance where content is transferred to a connected device.”

ContentGuard’s investors now include Time Warner Inc. and Microsoft Corp. Time Warner will own 9.9 percent of ContentGuard after the transaction, and get a board seat at ContentGuard.