Wireless patent firm Wi-LAN Inc. is now worth nearly C$760-million, making it Ottawa’s most valuable public company.

The title was bestowed by the Ottawa Citizen over the weekend, after the company announced on Friday that it had settled a patent infringement lawsuit with Intel Corp. Wi-LAN’s stock jumped 11.2% late Friday following news of the deal with the world’s largest chip maker, and is up an additional 6.5% in early morning trading on Monday as industry watchers expect more settlements to come ahead of its early February trial date.

“Intel’s multi-year license is worth ~$80 million over a five to six year period and is a significant win just ahead of the trial,” said Sean Peasgood, analyst with Wellington West Capital Markets in Toronto, in a note to clients on Monday while increasing his price target from C$7/share to C$10. “We expect other defendants to settle ahead of trial in the coming days and weeks.”

After several years of preparation and mounting legal expenses, Wi-LAN is readying for a February court date in Texas where it will try and convince some of the world’s largest technology companies — Apple Inc., Dell Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Sony Corp. being only a few examples — to purchase licenses for the Wi-LAN technology used in their products. Intel was the second major defendant in the case to settle ahead of trial, LG Electronics being the first company to strike a deal with Wi-LAN last December reportedly worth US$40-million.

“The Intel settlement, in our view, will pave the way for other settlements to follow,” Cannaccord Genuity analyst Eyal Ofir told clients on Monday while also raising his Wi-LAN price target from C$7.50 to C$9 with a Buy recommendation on the stock.

“As we have seen in previous IP litigation cases, the first shoe to drop generally creates a domino effect as remaining defendants look to de-risk going through with trial,” agreed Mr. Peasgood, noting that 90% of all IP licensing cases tend to settle ahead of trial.

Other major wireless players such as BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd., Nokia Corp. and Samsung Corp. are already among the 108 companies (109 if Intel is counted) to begin paying for annual Wi-LAN licenses since litigation began. The next dominoes to fall, according to Mr. Peasgood, will be other chip makers Broadcom Corp. and Atheros Communications Inc., which together with the Intel deal could mean $430-million in new revenue for the Ottawa-based company.

With barely two weeks left before the trial begins, a total of 16 defendants remain under increased pressure to settle.