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

To: Bux who wrote (14014)	8/22/1998 10:19:00 AM
From: Clarksterh	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

Bux - Some basics of US patent law (Dave - feel free to comment): 1) You cannot patent an idea (or laws of nature or math algorithms), only a particular application of an idea. I know this sounds weird to a newcomer, but nonetheless, ... . One of the effects of this law is to limit the scope of each individual patent and make it hard to develop a block on all applications of a particular idea. For instance, power control would probably qualify as an 'idea' and thus not be protectable. Only particular implementations would be, on a case-by-case basis. 2) All patents must be for non-obvious applications of an idea. In addition to the primary problem with this law - that many of the best inventions are obvious after the fact - this non-objective wording means that it is hard for an application to be too broad and still receive a patent. 3) The US Constitution says that "Congress shall have power ... To promote the progress of science and useful arts by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries." Thus, congress is not supposed to make laws to maximize ownership, but to maximize promotion of science. This feeling, although not often explicitly referenced back to the Constitution, often shows up in courts as a bias against providing a blocking patent as a 'restraint of trade'. The net effect of all of this is that it is hard to receive a blocking (i.e. sweeping) patent. However, on the upside for Qualcomm, even for very broad ideas there are only so many good, easy-to-find implementations, and Qualcomm has had the field to themselves for so long that they probably own all the best IPR. BUT, that doesn't mean that Ericsson can't find some poorer veins of IPR and wend their way through the Qualcomm IPR. Ericsson should, however, expect it to take a lot of time and money. (In contrast, IBM recently announced a copper deposition process, and everyone else jumped on it. I suspect that the result of that is that IBM did not have time to find all of the best patents.) Hope this helps. Clark

To: Bux who wrote (14014)	8/22/1998 9:19:00 PM
From: JMD	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 152472

Not so fast Buxter. You can't pick a fight with me and expect to just walk away unscathed. See, we ain't got nuthin to fight about. Now, just maybe, my normally sterling prose suffered from a momentary and highly uncharacteristic lapse, so permit me to re-load and fire for effect. I am no more willing than you to attribute this rock 'em, sock 'em, big time bull market to Slick Willie and his pals in the Beltway. Matter of fact, kinda seems to me that either through sheer ineptitude, or the paralysis resulting from a Democratic Oval Office and a Republican Congress, the economy has enjoyed the unmitigated delight of the government doing damn near nothing to it. As a result of which, it just merrily churned along creating jobs, wealth, and prosperity for all. I will leave it to others to divine whether this was the result of the Prez getting his knob serviced and therefore too preoccupied to drum up some damaging legislative initiatives, but bless them all--the result cannot be debated. Recall the sage words of the Great Surfer Hippocrates who admonished his medical colleagues in the Third Century: First, do no harm. Pity he didn't direct that to the politicians all of whom seem to believe that they got the cure for what ails us all. Well Bux my man, given a choice in the old 'lead, follow, or get out of the way' derby, I vote for door 3. Never seen a good economy that political interference couldn't screw up. Which brings me neatly back to the point of my original post: Slick Willie gets zip credit for getting the DJ/NAZ up to the promised land, but he damn well could tank it. It is there that Surfer Mike's tighties tend to get all wadded up. You seem to believe that political shenanigans have no effect on the market, and until recently they haven't. A couple of hundred million Americans have been praying for the last seven months that this thing just blows over [very clever subliminal reference SM--you guys with me?] before their jobs and stock portfolios get atomized. Bux, honest to Pete, it takes one hell of a lot, but ultimately these dudes can bring even Mighty Wall Street to its knees. Again, I'd recommend taking a look at the DJ during the Vietnam and Watergate episodes--very ugly viewing BTW. So there: take that. Pretty deadly, huh? :-) Kind Regards, SM