Agreed. But as was discussed earlier, regarding salesmanship, a seasoned sales organization does not tout a deal or deals that are not signed. There is such a thing as forecasting, but IDCC can only forecast expected revenues from signed licensees and also potential revenue from licensees that are currently not signed.
The problem is legal stipulations/clauses and contracts take months to get done, and that is only if the potential client is really serious. The "big boys" that IDCC is playing with, could give a "rat's ass" about paying IDCC...they just want the technology. They will say, yeah, we are really close, it just needs one more slight change, or one more approval and then that is another month gone. They don't care about signing with IDCC because it only costs them money....they already can get their hands on the technology, for the most part.
Unfortunately, the customer has already bought without paying, so how do you forecast when you get paid, when that is the last thing the customer cares about.
Right now, they don't really have to pay....but, once they sign, then they have to pay because they are legally bound to so, because they signed a contract.