5 ms·

I wonder how much Ericsson is paying Apple for _their_ portfolio, though. These patent deals usually imply reciprocity, including licensing fee reciprocity.

by melted 11y ago

sangnoir 11y ago
I'd guess not much, unless Apple has a bunch of cell-tower patents lying around. Ericsson divested from the handset business after pulling out of the SonyEricsson joint venture.
- melted 11y ago
  Patents are usually pretty broad, so they may have things that cover cell tower stuff as well. And since pricing is more or less arbitrary, they could eke out some cash for the more fundamental ones.
  - Oletros 11y ago
    > Patents are usually pretty broad mmm, no
- xenadu02 11y ago
  Apple isn't stupid... the only way to protect yourself from the patent minefield in cellular/mobile is to make sure you are involved deeply in the standards process and creating your own cellular radios, etc. Then you too can have a huge portfolio of patents to make sure none of the other large players can hassle you.
  - sangnoir 11y ago
    I hope you're also assuming Ericsson isn't stupid either. Ericsson have several (compounding) advantages: since it's their core-competence, they have more people working on RF tech, they also have been in the game for longer[1] which allowed them to get the low hanging fruits and time to get their tech into more standards. I'd guess Ericson has more cellular patents by at least an order of magnitude; likely more. 1. Ericsson has been in the telecoms business since 1876
Oletros 11y ago
> I wonder how much Ericsson is paying Apple for _their_ portfolio Why Ericsson should pay Apple?
rospaya 11y ago
Ericsson has a huge patent portfolio, several times larger than Apple's. The whole mobile phone revolution of the last 20 years is based on their work.
- josaka 11y ago
  Also worth noting is the effect of recent sales volume, which tends to hurt the company with more revenue, i.e., Apple, in these negotiations. E.g., my 1,000 patents and 10 million in product sales leaves me less exposed in a patent fight than your 5,000 patents and 10 billion in product sales revenue, so the bigger company often pays the smaller company in that scenario.

I wonder how much Ericsson is paying Apple for _their_ portfolio, though. These patent deals usually imply reciprocity, including licensing fee reciprocity.

by melted 11y ago

I wonder how much Ericsson is paying Apple for _their_ portfolio, though. These patent deals usually imply reciprocity, including licensing fee reciprocity.

sangnoir 11y ago

I'd guess not much, unless Apple has a bunch of cell-tower patents lying around. Ericsson divested from the handset business after pulling out of the SonyEricsson joint venture.

melted 11y ago
Patents are usually pretty broad, so they may have things that cover cell tower stuff as well. And since pricing is more or less arbitrary, they could eke out some cash for the more fundamental ones.
- Oletros 11y ago
  > Patents are usually pretty broad mmm, no
xenadu02 11y ago
Apple isn't stupid... the only way to protect yourself from the patent minefield in cellular/mobile is to make sure you are involved deeply in the standards process and creating your own cellular radios, etc. Then you too can have a huge portfolio of patents to make sure none of the other large players can hassle you.
- sangnoir 11y ago
  I hope you're also assuming Ericsson isn't stupid either. Ericsson have several (compounding) advantages: since it's their core-competence, they have more people working on RF tech, they also have been in the game for longer[1] which allowed them to get the low hanging fruits and time to get their tech into more standards. I'd guess Ericson has more cellular patents by at least an order of magnitude; likely more. 1. Ericsson has been in the telecoms business since 1876

Oletros 11y ago

> I wonder how much Ericsson is paying Apple for _their_ portfolio Why Ericsson should pay Apple?

rospaya 11y ago

Ericsson has a huge patent portfolio, several times larger than Apple's. The whole mobile phone revolution of the last 20 years is based on their work.

josaka 11y ago
Also worth noting is the effect of recent sales volume, which tends to hurt the company with more revenue, i.e., Apple, in these negotiations. E.g., my 1,000 patents and 10 million in product sales leaves me less exposed in a patent fight than your 5,000 patents and 10 billion in product sales revenue, so the bigger company often pays the smaller company in that scenario.