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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Moderated Thread - please read rules before posting -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SKIP PAUL who wrote (54009)	7/29/2006 8:43:07 PM
From: Mike Buckley	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 197253

Paul, Thank you for both responses. I wasn't aware that the president can send the ITC ruling along to a higher court. In fact, your post prompted me to follow up with a quick Google. I learned that the ITC is actually the USITC, that it is an agency of the United States. I had incorrectly been thinking that the ITC was truly an international commission whose mission was controlled by an international body, such as maybe the WTO. I was certainly wrong about that! Regarding the substantive issues with regard to Qualcomm's value chain, I think the following excerpt that you cited supports my thinking rather than contradicts it. Instead, the PATENTS relate to ancillary features that Qualcomm has built into its comprehensive chip-set architecture, including multimedia features and applications processing. It is our understanding that Qualcomm acquired some of this expertise in niche acquisitions made in past years. BROADCOM is ... an industry leader in multimedia chips. A lot of Qualcomm's future is predicated on its success in the multimedia market and the patents in question relate partly to multimedia. Broadcom is an industry leader in multimedia chips. So, if the final ruling is that Qualcomm has infringed on Broadcom's multimedia patents, it stands to reason that Qualcomms niche acquisitions dealing with the multimedia stuff have less value. Taking that line of logic one step farther, I'm thinking that in such a situation Qualcomm's control over its value chain has been lessened because it is now a little more dependent on Broadcom. Further, the piece you brought to my attention (thank you!) mentions that the end result could "actually culminate in licensing agreements between the two companies.... These agreements have the effect of reducing the net royalty payments for all companies involved." That being the case, it's another example of Qualcomm's value chain being weakened, not strengthened. At least that's the way I look at it. I could be wrong. As a Qualcomm investor, I hope I'm wrong. --Mike Buckley