tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075732429544309734.post6167429923331563864..comments2023-06-20T04:05:14.599-07:00Comments on San Diego Telecom Industry: Broadcom cracks CDMA frontJoel Westhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03837038327488766775noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075732429544309734.post-16997108263438962942007-07-26T23:51:00.000-07:002007-07-26T23:51:00.000-07:00Of course I agree that this is just a patent about...Of course I agree that this is just a patent about power consumption and it has limited life. And I agree Verizon will want Qualcomm to make good on some of the royalty, and that it no longer cares who wins the fight.<BR/><BR/>But Qualcomm (<A HREF="http://www.betanews.com/article/Qualcomm_Rejects_Broadcoms_6perchip_Licensing_Offer/1183142771" REL="nofollow">reportedly</A>) rejected paying $6 for every US cellphone. Also, as I read the Verizon detail, their license will be paid up after about 4-5 quarters.<BR/><BR/>However, there has been some talk that Qualcomm is offering a royalty-free cross-license. This seems contrary to industry practice. Normally if Nokia has 200 patents and Sanyo has 1, then Nokia pays royalties for 1 patent times 300 million phones while Sanyo pays royalty for 200 patents times maybe 5 million phones.<BR/><BR/>So is Qualcomm offering a royalty-free license? The precedent it would set could destroy their IP business model. I find it hard to believe, but then no one really knows what’s going on behind closed doors.Joel Westhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03837038327488766775noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075732429544309734.post-89316418751943794512007-07-19T20:48:00.000-07:002007-07-19T20:48:00.000-07:00Your conclusion makes little sense. The dispute ...Your conclusion makes little sense. The dispute and settlement with Verizon has to do with a simple patent affecting battery life. It has nothing to do with QCOM's patent rights for CDMA and absolutely nothing to do with QCOM's patent rights for WCDMA (i.e., GSM 3G). Broadcom cannot enter into the WCDMA arena without a QCOM patent and this settlement gets them no closer. If anything, they lost any leverage to negotiate a royalty license with QCOM for WCDMA. The only downside I see for QCOM is Verizon will now force QCOM to pay for some of the $6 if QCOM wants to keep the relationship (which QCOM was willing to do directly with BRCM anyway). Verizon's lobbying arm will no longer pressure Bush for a veto. Another point to keep in mind is that Verizon only negotiated a 5 quarter license even the patent in question has 3 more years before expiring so Verizon most likely believes a workaround will be in place by then.Steven Toussihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08068450688172597933noreply@blogger.com