To: Art Bechhoefer who wrote (58767 ) 1/18/2007 8:22:39 PM From: A.J. Mullen Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 197237 The case is important financially because a verdict in favor of QCOM could trigger some important licensing agreements with the likes of Apple. Do you have any basis for that? Or are you using the word "could" to denote theoretically possible but without any reason to be considered likely? If you read my earlier post you would have seen I stated that I was aware of the general principle that IP must be defended or it can be lost.The case is also important from the precedent point of view, since it would establish (once again) that if a patented method is incorporated into a standard, and a company uses that standard, even modified slightly for whatever reason, the original patent still holds and requires the company to buy a license and pay royalties. The argument is whether the modification was slight or not. This case will not be considered precedent setting, whichever way it goes, so it's not important for that reason either. The damage Qcom is seeking from Broadcom is $8.3 million. The sky won't fall if it loses the case. If the stock drops appreciably, then that represents a buying opportunity. It won't change the future returns that will accrue to the company by a single percentage point. That doesn't seem convoluted to me. A company is worth the total of all future discounted earnings. If the Broadcom case is lost and Qcom stock drops 20%, what will you do? Do you think Qcom will lose 20% in discounted future earning? I think it would be a great opportunity to buy because I don't believe Qcoms future earnings would be appreciably affected. In reality, I don't think the market will react so irrationally. Say Qcom loses the case, but the share price doesn't budge? Will you sell? Whatever it was worth before the decision it would be worth less after the jury decision. I think the change would be insignificant. You think differently. What do you think would be an appropriate reduction in value for the loss of a potential $8.3 million in damages? How would that be reflected in the shareprice, given there are 1.6 billion shares outstanding? Ashley