"We have a license agreement with Nokia Corp., which in part expires on April 9, 2007"
JG,
<< I can't remember; has Qcom ever used the terms "paid up" to describe the license on the cdma early patents? >>
Not that I know of. Ever since QUALCOMM stated in their FQ3 (CQ2) SEC 10Q filing (06/25/06) ...
We have a license agreement with Nokia Corp., which in part expires on April 9, 2007. ...
... in response to numerous requests to explain what they meant by "expires" in part at every event (QUALCOMM sponsored or Broker sponsored), they have hemmed and hawed, double talked, danced, and sang and satisfied few. This is about the most explicit statement they have made on the subject ...
Steve Altman, President, Qualcomm (November 13, 2006): As far as "in part." The agreement is complicated. And I've got to be a little careful about how much detail I can go into. Basically, if you recall, how some patents are licensed and then there are “capture” periods and so forth. Nokia would remain licensed under very early patents. So it's not that all of the entire agreement expires. Some of their products would remain licensed under some of the earlier patents. That's why we say it expires “in part.” Just certain, very early patents, remain licensed. The rest of the patents, the vast majority of our patents, would not be licensed. And those would expire.
qualcomm.com
<< I have always interpreted NOK's use of those words as: "we don't owe any quarterly royalty from April 9, 2007 through December 31, 2008" so they are effectively paid up, but we have the right to continue to use those patents. >>
I think that interpretation is a real stretch of what Nokia's CTO Tero Ojanperä explicitly stated in the presence of Nokia's General Counsel, their IP Strategy Architect and VP of IPR (Ilkka Rahnasto), their CFO Rick Simonson, and financial analysts attending Nokia Capital Market Days (Day 2) on November 29, 2006. If you haven't listened to that presentation, you might want to do so. If you have, you might want to do it again. Access from here ...
nokia.com
Best,
- Eric - |
