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Technology Stocks : IBM -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bill Martin who wrote (3689)	8/10/1998 3:15:00 PM
From: Arrow Hd.	Respond to of 8218

Its true that cross-licensing is a "give to get" business but IBM typically is net-plus on those deals. Last year, IBM received over one billion dollars from patent and IP licensing and I know they did not spend near that to receive the same in-kind from other firms. I can see this business expanding each year. Frankly, for every patent they file, they could probably file a dozen companion patents for support of the main patent but dont do it due to resources and the fact that the IBMer who files the patent has to do quite a bit of work and gets very little in the form of a bonus for it. I would spend more money supporting the filing of patents. I feel it is an error to let potential patents go by the wayside even if they are not deemed to be really important. The supporting patents are often the intellectual property that discourages competitors from attempting to violate the principal patent.