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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Clarksterh who wrote (134906)	7/22/2004 7:03:23 PM
From: Rich Bloem	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 152472

<<True. BUT what if someone comes along in 2010 and decides to build a CDMA cell system. They don't absolutely need the non-core patents to make it work (unless they were trying to tie into CDMA2000 or probably WCDMA) and the core patents (which they absolutely must have) are expired.>> There have been so many follow on improvements on those core patents that make the expiration of the original ones almost a mute point. All of those improvements are patented at much later dates. Of course a manufacturer just coming into the business may try to build a CDMA phone by himself and test the system by not paying royalties. However, if his system is built to approved standards he will have incorporated many many more recent patents. I am not concerned with the possible dilution of Q's IPR portfolio. What I am more concerned with is the analysts take on possible royalty dilutions. There will be much fud spread around once these patents start to get long in the tooth and it will take some time for the street to realize the fear was overblown.

To: Clarksterh who wrote (134906)	7/23/2004 4:45:50 PM
From: Maurice Winn	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 152472

Hi Clark. What if governments decide that bundled intellectual property is anti-competitive, dumping, illegal and each item must be separately licensed and priced? Microsoft got into trouble for the small matter of bundling a browser into an operating system. I prefer the whole lot bundled and having a single supplier because then I know who to blame when things go wrong. But the law says MSFT and $ill Gates are bad guys because of the politics of envy, so that's the law. Mob rule rulz and if they want to, the mob [or their representatives] can kill the goose that lays the golden egg. Both the USA and Europe have attacked the Good Guys [GG]. QUALCOMMies are GG too, so I expect that they'll be attacked, when they have enough money, on the principle that lawyers and politicians seek money and when they see big piles of mega$illions they come over all drooly and start inventing laws which mean that the GG have to give the money to them. QUALCOMM might be forced to unbundle the 1000s of patents and sell them individually. People will order, "gpsOne, radioOne, CDMA2000, leave the GPRS but just give me a sprinkle of GSM with a side of 1xEV-DO. Hold the EDGE." "Sure, and would you like fries with that?" Management of intellectual property would become a nightmare. Imagine trying to check billions of phones to see which are using what to ensure royalties are being paid. Governments are okay with nightmares though, so I won't be surprised if they force it. Mqurice