The $20 million came with a whole raft of conditions to be accepted by Qualcomm, which would have meant a new agreement was thereby formed, which means Nokia accepted [as written in those terms] that Qualcomm had property which they wanted to use and recognized they had to pay for. They were just dickering over the price and precisely which patents were being paid for.
In the absence of agreement to revised terms by Qualcomm, Nokia, by continuing as previously, agreed to the previous terms of the agreement, or was deliberately in breach of Qualcomm's patents.
Qualcomm accepts that the terms were continuing as previously with an option for renewal, in writing, by 31 December 2008 inclusive. Both Qualcomm and Nokia continued to use each others' patents as though nothing had happened with the expiry of the agreement. Therefore, the agreement continued insofar as the written terms could be applied to the subsequent unwritten form of agreement. If either party did not wish to let the agreement run on, ignoring the agreement that "any extension must be in writing", then they would have had to cease and desist knowingly using the other's patents.
Since both parties continued as before, without a written agreement, it's as plain as the nose on your face [or mine if your nose is inconspicuous] that both parties were happy to do so. Ipso facto, there is an agreement, with the new terms being as per the previous agreement, other than the terms such as "an extension must be in writing".
Mqurice |
