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Qualcomm's IP portfolio is sufficient that the company can demand royalties from virtually any company that wants to produce a cell phone. It had a stranglehold
by freyr 12y ago
Qualcomm's IP portfolio is sufficient that the company can demand royalties from virtually any company that wants to produce a cell phone. It had a stranglehold over CDMA technologies, and has a great deal of valuable LTE-related IP.
I don't know how China defines a monopoly relative to the U.S. definition, but Qualcomm seems like a natural candidate.
- nostromo 12y agoPatents are monopolies by design.
- freyr 12y agoIn a reductionist sense, yes, but this is interesting because the patents are intertwined with an international standard that every participant must conform to. When a patent covers a stand-alone product, you may be able to avoid licensing by developing an innovative or otherwise differentiated product. But when patents cover critical portions of a standard, your hands are pretty much tied.