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

To: marginmike who wrote (11237)	6/7/1998 7:44:00 PM
From: Gregg Powers	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

Patent expiration. Patent expiration and royalty expiration are two different issues. Many of the original patents will begin to expire around 2007, but many more have been issued over the last few years. It's actually a very difficult question because the IPR is not a static continuum, but any major vulnerability should be at least nine years away. Many of QC's royalty agreements extend past the point of patent expiration and some are perpetual. Before you think I am full of B-S, remember that a royalty commitment is a contractual obligation that is negotiated between two parties. Somebody who wants to do CDMA today may feel compelled to sign a perpetual royalty agreement because by the time the patents became public domain he could easily be foreclosed from the market. Gregg