Licensing: The risk of patent portfolio evaluation shortcuts

Six billion: That’s the estimated number of active handsets across the globe today with an addition of about 1.5 billion mobile phones sold globally every year.¹

What makes them tick? 

Fundamental, enabling technology such as 4G, 5G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, video streaming, location, antenna design, power management, and more.

For decades, Qualcomm has consistently and heavily invested in research and development (R&D), more than $80 billion in technologies including the core of 3G, 4G, and 5G cellular systems, and with a unique focus on end devices.

Licensing these fundamental innovations fuels that R&D engine, while also enabling and encouraging innovation at device makers, regardless of whether they use Qualcomm Technologies’ products or not.

With well more than 90% of global 3G, 4G, and 5G handsets under license in 2022, Qualcomm’s success in licensing mobile phones is unmatched. Beyond handsets, we have been licensing in the auto and internet of things industries for two plus decades, including at least 50 5G agreements in automotive. In fact, 18 billion and counting devices are enabled with Qualcomm IP innovations.

QTL Senior Vice President and General Manager, John Han sat down with IAM, a leading global source of intellectual property news, to discuss a number of topics including: 

• Qualcomm’s leadership in patent licensing
• Our approach to licensing, including our programs in mobile phones and automotive
• How shortcuts for evaluating patent portfolios are prone to inaccurate information and doesn’t reflect what happens in actual negotiations or the true value of a patent portfolio

1. New, W. (2023). ‘The devil is in the detail’ — the Qualcomm take on patent licensing. IAM. Retrieved from ‘The devil is in the detail' – the Qualcomm take on patent licensing - IAM (iam-media.com) on March 14, 2023.