interested amateur, yes.
This whole patent thing is kind of like watching sumo wrestling, in slow motion, from the perspective of a flea.
The Broadcom/Qualcomm squabble is interesting on two fronts. The first front is a direct slap in the face to Qualcomm's licensing model, or as Qualcomm has characterized it, "bad-faith". The second front is the misalignment of Qualcomm's business model with the wireless industry value chain, or as characterized by Qualcomm, "anti-trust and anti-competitive".
The Broadcom/Nokia action, at least to me, is the main event.
You asked: "But one thing that may get in Nokia's way is that there is no clear monetary value attached to their IP - to the best of my knowledge they have not gotten license money out of other handset manufacturers."
Generally speaking, as far as I have been counselled, patents are either a sword or a shield.
Many companies forego license revenue (sword) in favor of no-cost access to technology (shield). In practice, companies use a mix of both tactics, but generally the overall strategy is biased towards one or the other.
In a "sword" strategy, such as what Qualcomm is practicing, the value of a patent portfolio lies in the licensing revenue it can compel. In a "shield" strategy, such as what it appears Nokia practises, the value of a patent portfolio is the licensing costs it can avoid.
Broadcom, for example, has a tremendously valuable portfolio, if only because it has comprehensive access to Intel's IPR portfolio at no cost.
If I don't charge you rent to live in my house, and you don't charge me rent to live in your house, that doesn't make both of our houses worthless.
You have also asked "Why doesn't Nokia go out and actively seek these licenses?"
The old addage is "live by the sword, die by the sword". A corrolary addage worth remembering is that it is hard to die by the shield.
I suspect Nokia has negotiated many licenses. Quietly. In fact, the Nokia brief contains many veiled threats to Qualcomm, specifically that Nokia reserves the right to impose FRAND licensing fees on Qualcomm for Nokia's IPR, once Qualcomm has offered the FRAND fees to Nokia that it has promised...
"Thus, what should QCOM have to give them?"
Just a discount. Maybe even the FRAND discount NOKIA usually gets: 100% |
