Ok. it's actually fairly simple. A minor correction though: Qualcomm actually never made their legal argument based on QTL and QTC. Qualcomm did argue that th

Ok. it's actually fairly simple. A minor correction though: Qualcomm actually never made their legal argument based on QTL and QTC. Qualcomm did argue that their patent portfolio goes beyond baseband chips and their customers are paying for non-chip related features that cover security, encryption, algorithm, etc.. (hence no exhaustion) And yes, it's perfectly legal to pick anyone one, not all, layer in the supplier chain and collect royalties there. The wireless industry agreed to collect the royalties from the last manufacturer in the supply chain decades ago -- and that's more or less the de facto industry practice today. This isn't to say SEP holders can go after any random body as they please -- there are legal analysis and factors that help determine if that's fair. For instance, I think it's reasonable to use the end-user smartphone device as royalty basis since Qualcomm's IP adds significant value and drive market demand for Apple's iPhones. On the other hand, it would be silly to make similar comparison to a BWM 8 Series Coupe with wireless functionality.