InterDigital Inc (IDCC)

[GrnAcrs]

Good find Gio...

Global cell phone makers are on high alert on news that InterDigital Communications of the U.S., which owns core GSM technologies, has been awarded massive royalties from Samsung Electronics,


Samsung has appealed the decision to a district court and is also negotiating with the U.S. firm.

the two (Samsung & Nokia) have to pay more if they are to continue using InterDigital's technologies.

LG Electronics concluded it has no chance of winning and agreed to pay $285 million including past royalties.

InterDigital owns 4,200 core patents related to GSM wireless technology, registering eight core technologies including air interface solutions that assist wireless communications between mobile handsets and base stations with the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).


But with the rapid growth of the global cell phone market, InterDigital demanded some 1.5 percent of their phone selling prices in royalties, which caused the present conflict.

As a result, its performance is improving rapidly, posting $348 million in sales in the first half of this year alone, up from $100 million in 2004.

Korean phone makers are worried InterDigital will become another Qualcomm