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

To: JGoren who wrote (62045)	4/5/2007 12:49:39 PM
From: waitwatchwander	Respond to of 197031

Nokia makes payment to Qualcomm for right to use UMTS patents after April 9, 2007 April 05, 2007 Espoo, Finland - Nokia announced today that it has paid Qualcomm USD 20 million for patent licenses covering the second quarter 2007. Nokia and Qualcomm have had patent license agreements since 1992 and Nokia's obligations to pay license fees under the old agreements partially expire on April 9, 2007. The payment announced today does not extend, and is not related to, the old agreement. Rather, it is based on the licenses that Qualcomm has agreed and provided through the European Telecommunication Standardization Institute (ETSI). ... [The real royalty cheque has yet to be cut ... it is all nothing but PR] Media Enquiries: Nokia Strategy and Technology Communications Tel. +44 7917 231 929 Nokia Communications Tel. +358 7180 34900 Email: press.office@nokia.com nokia.com

To: JGoren who wrote (62045)	4/5/2007 12:50:45 PM
From: JeffreyHF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 197031

Richard Windsor of Nomura is like Ed Snyder. Everything is always a blow to Qualcomm, and Nokia can do no wrong. Consider the source.

To: JGoren who wrote (62045)	4/5/2007 12:54:45 PM
From: slacker711	Respond to of 197031

Richard Windsor, an analyst at Japanese investment bank Nomura, said Nokia has pulled of a "strategic master stroke" by doing this. Windsor said the deal signals how much Nokia is willing to pay Qualcomm for royalties and by doing so, Nokia significantly reduces the risk of being found guilty of "willful infringement" in any patent lawsuits that follow with the San Diego-based chipset maker. Let's look at Nokia's two positions with respect to the rights/obligations granted by participation in a SDO. 1) Injunctions (even after a finding of infringement) arent appropriate since the company is obligated to license to all comers. 2) A company can avoid a finding of wilful infringement by making a unilateral decision on the appropriate level of royalties. If a court ever supported those two positions, there would be no reason for a company to EVER license a patent portfolio that has been submitted to a SDO. They will always go to court since they wouldnt be subject to any particular punishment beyond the established royalty payments. Who knows, maybe Nokia will win one of their arguments....but any judge that finds for both will have effectively insured that the courts would be used for every licensing deal involving a SDO. Hard to imagine that happening.... Slacker

To: JGoren who wrote (62045)	4/5/2007 1:03:33 PM
From: carranza2	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 197031

Richard Windsor, an analyst at Japanese investment bank Nomura, said Nokia has pulled of a "strategic master stroke" by doing this. Windsor said the deal signals how much Nokia is willing to pay Qualcomm for royalties and by doing so, Nokia significantly reduces the risk of being found guilty of "willful infringement" in any patent lawsuits that follow with the San Diego-based chipset maker. Strategic master stroke, my a**. I'd be willing to bet that it has offered significantly more than $20 million per quarter in the negotiations. And considering that $20 million is a paltry sum in the relative sense of things, I am willing to bet that it does not immunize NOK from a willful infringement claim. Otherwise, paying a pittance on IPR, then using it without a license will become a tactic every infringer will adopt. There is no way that the courts will allow a voluntary payment of $1 for IPR rights worth $100 in order to get immunized from a willful infringement claim. No one has focused on this, and the media should. I'm willing to bet that the vast majority of sophisticated IPR lawyers are having a good laugh over this tactic. It was a nice try, though, and knocked some value off the share price. When the dust settles, the investment community is going to wonder about this cheesy move. Thank you NOK, you stepped into it.

To: JGoren who wrote (62045)	4/5/2007 1:40:46 PM
From: limtex	Respond to of 197031

JG -can we agree that without an injunction al there is to do is to fight the lawsuits all the way to the bitter end ( assuming no settlement during the long process)? Can we agree that the court process can take over four years per case, including one level of appeal? That then would leave commercialities as the only area in which the fight could be carried on outside the court process. Are any other Q licenses about to come to the end of it's (their) term? Anyone of these with a major handset manufacturer? If there are wouldn't NOK be out there saying to any such licensee "listen, Q's WCDMA patents are paid upand we are fighting to prove that that. Why not join in with us and if you do there might be some business that we can give you"? And is BRCM going to sell W-cdma chips? Why wouldn't NOK talk to them as well? Presumably any interested party can join NOK's suits. Best, L