Patent Law

Going Solo

By Gary Odom and Jordan Kuhn

Last month, seven major telecommunications patent holders: Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, NEC, NextWave Wireless, Nokia, Nokia Siemens Networks and Sony Ericsson, agreed to limit patent licensing fees, so as to engender continuing evolution of 3G mobile technologies, and limit litigation. Others were invited to participate. Two notable holdouts: Nortel and Qualcomm.

Qualcomm has a patenting strategy of many narrow claims. It has proven a prescient strategy, particularly in light of KSR. That does not mean that Qualcomm's portfolio is unblemished, but it is of a high quality.

By contrast, Nortel's patent portfolio is full of junk. Patent Hawk has repeatedly invalidated Nortel patents.

Full post as published by The Patent Prospector on May 11, 2008 (boomark / email).