Mickey's Telecom Corner

[patopinion]

Last September Idcc announced a license deal with Pantech that included LTE and LTE-Advanced along with other standards. According to Idcc's press release dated September 21, 2009, 'InterDigital will acquire a minority stake in Pantech with no participation at the board level or in the management of the companies'.

Now I have read nothing but positive comments regarding this deal on various message boards since the news was released last Fall. Now I realize Pantech is one of the top 3 South Korean mobile handset makers. They are also exhibiting at the Barcelona telecom conference. Not sure (going with a bad memory) but Qcom may also have invested in Pantech as well.

But the 'speculator of motives' in me just needs to ask this question keeping the investment part of the deal in mind.

Did Idcc pay Pantech to use Idcc's patents?

Of course the answer will be no, if and when Pantech's royalty payments exceed Idcc's investment. But it will be hard to know given the secrecy of revenues associated with Idcc's license deals. But Idcc management may also have thought getting a license deal on LTE was worth a loss or marketing expense given their cash horde.