QUALCOMM could get injunctions for the patents which are not part of the ETSI agreement.
YES.
I bet Nokia is using a lot more than just the essential patents under the bundled agreement which they previously enjoyed. Yes. However, I bet it will cost Qualcomm much more to prove infringement outside a standard than inside one.
That French law didn't preclude bundled patents. It referred to each patent, but didn't say those patents can't be handled in a single negotiation. QUALCOMM and Nokia can agree that the royalty for each patent can be undefined, but part of a 5%, 16%, or 42% bundle.
ABSOLUTELY. However, what Nokia is asserting is that Qualcomm can not say "take an all-or-nothing bundle, or face an injunction". Before the injunction must come an unbundled offer. Therein lies the rub.
Nokia did agree to that form in the previous agreement. The price of each patent wasn't defined in the agreement. QUALCOMM can reasonably sell them individually for more than the previous total. Prices don't stay the same forever, as we all know.
Yes again. In other words, Qualcomm and Nokia should head back to the table and strike a deal. I think so too, and I suspect this is what Nokia is trying to tell Qualcomm's new management.
See, Qualcomm is threatening Nokia that if there isn't a deal Nokia faces an injunction. Lots of bluff and bluster. Nokia's response is "Sure, maybe I'll see an injunction, but first you have to gut yourself by quoting a price, patent by patent, for each one of the patents you declared 'essential' to ETSI. Wanna do that? Be my guest... or maybe you want to drop the gloves and negotiate a comprehensive agreement"... at least that's how yours truly reads this one.
Nokia thinks prices have gone down. QUALCOMM thinks prices have gone up. It looks to me as though QUALCOMM is in a vastly better negotiating position than previously and the market can certainly sustain a MUCH higher royalty, as proven by the $20bn in spectrum just sold by the USA and by the growth in 3G running on QUALCOMM technology.
We differ. Qualcomm used to own the toll-gate and the only road on the way between points A and B. So they could charge whatever they want. But since then, other paving companies have come along and built other roads, and sidewalks, busses, airplanes... and while more people than ever before are going between points A and B, Qualcomm's toll road only carries a fraction of the traffic, even though more traffic than ever is flowing.
Furthermore, unlike before, Qualcomm now wants to travel between points C and D, some of which is paved by Nokia. So they owe some tolls to Nokia just like Nokia owes some tolls to them. It's no longer a one street way.
If Nokia ceases being a licensee, that won't slow things at all. Samsung, Sony-Ericsson and others would be delighted if Nokia announced they were going back to making gum boots.
But that's not really what this is all about.
Nokia's French Kiss is more of a negotiating tactic than an attempt to avoid licensing. It's about showing the folks at Qualcomm that it will be better business to strike a deal than to face the alternative, which is to unbundle their patents. |
