Qualcomm says it holds TD-SCDMA patent rights
RCR Wireless News
February 10, 2003
SAM OMATSEYE
Qualcomm Inc. says it is ready to flex its patent muscles for TD-SCDMA technology if China fails to recognize Qualcomm's intellectual property rights to the technology.
Although the Chinese government has not issued any IPR statement on the subject, the country's major telecom equipment maker, Datang Telecom Technology Co. Ltd., said the San Diego, Calif.-based company has no patent claims to the technology, triggering a potential showdown with diplomatic, legal, commercial and technological dimensions. Industry narrowed its lens on the protocol, according to analysts, when the Chinese government allocated spectrum for it. Datang also has signed a series of agreements with major wireless firms to develop TD-SCDMA chipsets.
It would violate World Trade Organization protocol if the Chinese government launches TD-SCDMA service, said Lou Lupin, general counsel and senior vice president at Qualcomm. He explained that if any company rolled out the protocol, Qualcomm would mount a challenge as it has done in the past for its patents around the world, adding that the company has a variety of patents in TD-SCDMA technology.
''Our batting average is extraordinarily good,'' he said, referring to Qualcomm's past patent victories. ''We will prevail.''
However, Lupin noted that the technology is still in its development stage, and the company is monitoring the activities involving the protocol. He said it remains to be seen if any company can produce it at reasonable prices and deploy it widely.
Datang Chairman Zhou Huan has been stoking battle flames lately. ''We believe that the TD-SCDMA standard in China uses a lot of core IPR that was actually developed by the Chinese themselves,'' he proclaimed. ''TD-SCDMA does not use Qualcomm technology and we welcome Qualcomm to contact us to negotiate.''
Lupin said the company planned to make its patent submissions to the Chinese standards body called Chinese Wireless Telecommunications Standards.
Eighteen companies, including Datang, Nokia Corp., Samsung Electronics Inc. and Texas Instruments Inc., have come together to establish a joint venture known as Commit to produce TD-SCDMA chipsets for handsets. Agilent Technologies Inc. and Racom are working on test and measuring equipment for the protocol.
Datang's staunchest partner has been Siemens AG, which has pledged to spend $50 million this year for the technology. Both companies will pool 350 dedicated engineers for the project. Datang has said it seeks more overseas capital to advance the technology.
Qualcomm's Lupin said his company and the Chinese Ministry of Information Industry wanted to negotiate a framework agreement, but later handed over the responsibility to carrier China Unicom.
''The idea was to establish a single framework in material terms for our licenses,'' said Lupin. ''MII came up with a list of 17 companies authorized to develop handsets and about seven for infrastructure.''
However, those negotiations only involved IS-95 and cdma2000 1x technology, and took place before China gained membership to the WTO, Lupin said. Membership in WTO forbids the government to enter any negotiations with private companies in regard to technology transfers, commercial agreements and licenses.
''China has been careful to abide by WTO rules,'' said Lupin.
This leaves the battle in the hands of Datang if it plans to pursue its IPR claims. |
