Qualcomm Looks At The History It Helped Write

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http://www.wirelessweek.com/index.as...cal=Technology

Qualcomm Looks At The History It Helped Write

September 13, 2002 12:00am
Phillips Publishing International, Inc.

Wireless Data News via NewsEdge Corporation : Vol. 10 No. 19

Qualcomm [QCOM] protected its intellectual property rights with an extensive patent portfolio before it changed the future of digital wireless technology in 1995 with the introduction of its CDMA technology. That portfolio's importance grew nearly exponentially after the International Telecommunications Union in 1999 selected CDMA as the industry standard for third-generation wireless systems--CDMA2000, wideband-CDMA and time division- synchronous CDMA.

Louis Lupin, Qualcomm's senior vice president and general counsel, talked with Wireless Data News about the significance of the company's recent technology-licensing pact with Siemens [SI], and about how its patent portfolio is extending its influence in the wireless industry as companies around the world develop next-generation devices and infrastructure.

WDN: Why does Qualcomm describe the expansion of its licensing agreement with Siemens as a particularly important deal?

Lupin: From Qualcomm's perspective, the added importance [of expanding Siemens' licensing] is that the earlier agreement was limited to subscriber equipment, in other words handsets and that kind of equipment, and was also limited to IS-95A-type standards. The new agreement expands the standards to include all the 3G standards for infrastructure. It expands the scope of the license considerably, both in terms of the licensed products and the standards included in the agreement.

We sort of look it as a milestone event in the sense that Siemens was the last of the major telecoms equipment manufacturers who was not licensed for 3G or for infrastructure equipment. So, it's sort of the last piece of the puzzle in a lot of ways, when you look at the major players in the wireless telecoms world. We're really very pleased to have concluded this agreement with them.

WDN: How will this new deal with Siemens affect Qualcomm's revenues?

Lupin: Unquestionably, a big part of Qualcomm's strategy has always been to disseminate the technology into the hands of as many manufacturers as possible for purpose of expanding the market and increasing penetration.

The point about Siemens is they are one of the leading telecoms equipment suppliers in the world. They're sort of the last remaining of [the leading] manufacturers with whom we have not previously had a 3G license or an infrastructure license."

WDN: When the 3G standards were adopted, did Qualcomm expect other companies would be able to develop W-CDMA or TD-SCDMA technologies without being licensed under its patent portfolio?

Lupin: I think Qualcomm at least believed, at the time that there was development of the W-CDMA standard, that there had been some effort to design around some of our patent portfolio. But at the same time, we felt like there were still many key technological innovations that were necessary for W-CDMA that were covered by our patents.

If there was in fact an effort to design around us, it was not successful.

WDN: Does it appear today that other wireless technology agreed there is no way around utilizing Qualcomm's patents only after attempting to design W- CDMA devices or network technology?

Lupin: My view of the history is that is what in fact happened. There was an effort to try and design something independently, but when it came time to solve some of the fundamental problems--like power control, like how to structure the wave form, and do things like orthogonal channelization--it just wasn't possible to avoid the innovations that we had already come up with, and that where the subject of our patent portfolio. It appears that it's not unreasonable to think that some of the design choices were made in an effort to perhaps avoid some of our IPR. Other of the IPR of was unavoidable in order to have a viable, multiple-access system."

WDN: Does Qualcomm look at the history of 3G technology standards, on top of its technology licensing pacts, as evidence of its technology as key source for 3G wireless operations?

Lupin: We've certainly believed for a long time that whatever flavor of it ultimately got adopted, that CDMA would be the backbone for the next generation, the third-generation systems. I think history has played that out for us. History has confirmed that.

CDMA as a technology just is inherently more efficient in terms of its use of the spectrum and its ability to deliver higher data rates in an efficient way. That's what 3G is all about. It came as no surprise that some flavor or another of CDMA was ultimately selected."

We're very proud of the industry recognition of the importance of our portfolio. We may be boastful, maybe we're overly proud, I don't know, but I think we have good reason to be proud because we have licensed this technology now to well over 100 major telecoms and electronics manufacturers who really are the who's who of the wireless and telecoms industry. Virtually every major player now has taken a license and I don't think they'd do that if they didn't think the technology was important."

WDN: How would you describe Qualcomm's fate if other companies had succeeded in developing their own W-CDMA technologies without needing Qualcomm's licenses?

Lupin: Obviously, if there had been some ability to develop a technology that didn't utilize our intellectual property, it would have had a very significant impact on our company. Our technology is the lifeblood of the company. We have two major revenue streams. One is licensing of our technology, and other is sales of our chipsets, which are sort of an embodiment of our tech. It would have obviously had a very, very significant impact on our company. >>Patty Goodwin, pgoodwin@qualcomm.com.<<

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