Replies to post #45485 on InterDigital Inc (IDCC)

[Desert dweller]

jai, I spoke with Janet point on Sept 17th and here is my remarks that I posted about Panasonic back then:

I asked about Panasonic and why no revenue to date and she said they are still working with the JPO to get the patents approved. She did confirm that revenue would not begin accruing from them until 1/1/03 product sales. She said that Panasonic 3g phones sales measure only in the tens of thousands so the free ride wouldn't matter much. She said what mattered is the fact that they were their first (we all remember our first don't we?) 3g licensee who paid a non refundable deposit so they understand the value of IDCC's technology. IDCC was willing to grant them the concessions until 1/1/03 since they pre-paid almost $20 million and they were their first. This still does not make much sense to me why they pre-paid almost 2 years before any royalties would start to accrue but I guess if they gave a big enough discount it was in the interest of both parties. I would imagine that Panasonic probably also believed there would be more phones sold by 1/1/03 so the free ride period would have proved more valuable than it actually was to them. I guess collecting up front has worked out pretty good for IDCC at times and this really seems like one of those times.