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

To: JGoren who wrote (16815)	10/20/1998 6:23:00 PM
From: jpbrody	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 152472

Regarding Ericsson's recent patent activities. Ericsson's surrender of the other two patents and admissions of invalidity were made during reissue proceedings before the United States Patent Office in which Ericsson is applying for new claims which it argues avoid the invalidity problems of the surrendered claims. To date, Ericsson has not dismissed its claims against QUALCOMM under the surrendered patents in the Texas litigation. I'm no patent expert--I've just spent way too much time on the phone with them--but I believe what is going on here is that Ericsson has asked the Patent Office to add claims to an old patent. My understanding is that this can be done if ideas were disclosed in the body of the original patent BUT by doing so, you start from scratch. Once a patent is issued it is presumed valid and it is a big hurdle to get it declared invalid. By asking for the additions, I believe Ericsson is losing that status (the presumption of validity) in hopes of regaining it on a much stronger patent. It's a big gamble and must be a sign of their lack of confidence in their current position. But it's not over yet. I'd be very interested in hearing what patent experts think is going on here. Jim