InterDigital Inc (IDCC)

[frobinso]

I always believed that IDCC agreed to step up to the litigation table defending Tantivity's original patents as part of the original agreement with Tantivity, and that final settlements with those parties on the valuation of that deal rest on this outcome. Hence it always had to be an arms-length away, and the two portfolio's will be valuated separately.

It wasn't until later that IDCC made a full acquisition and it then became even fuzzier on how much the total payout for the Tantivity patents actually are, or if valuation still rests on the outcome of this case.

I think a subsequent Lucent agreement will be structured similar to ERICYs, with the possible exception that it may be an actual cross-licensing agreement versus an option to excercise a Technology Reference Platform agreement (sorry I don't recall the term exactly). The possibility of a cross-license agreement also raises the possibility of a lower dollar amount if Lucent has patents that IDCC feels would be valuable to them.