InterDigital Inc (IDCC)

[Data_Rox]

OD….yes

which is why I said….

That the notices have not turned to litigation thus far is interesting, but the size of the companies and numbers of products being shipped is further down on the radar than what we've seen.

IMO…. the notices I've heard about….which are regularly sent out from IDCC legal entity… may be an effort to push an upstream license

an example could be something like….

A company is making a product that uses an embedded cellular module (made by another company)

IDCC may or may not know whose cellular module is being used within the device (could be a licensee…or maybe not)…but they know the company's finished product is being commercially sold and used on a cellular network….and that company's name doesn't appear on the licensee list

They send a letter to the device making company stating that they are infringing on patents x, y, z …. Sometimes these companies get multiple letters from different patent holders…trolls or not

While we have licenses with several significant cellular module makers…which in turn would then document that they indemnify their customer for that product…. there are a lot of devices that are not using these "licensed" modules. Again… IDCC has little knowledge of whose module is being used… so letters may go out in a more blanketed manner…..to get them to push the anger upstream to their module maker…

IDCC may not intend to litigate against all of these companies directly….so they aren't concerned about the laches and/or equitable estoppel defenses….but it does cause a lot of heartburn and even legal expense…and thus the troll and ambulance chaser perception.

JMO