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Mobiles to Iraq: US wages anti-European patent row
Political sleaze or good ol' fashioned patriotism?
Mobile and wireless

Fri 28 March 2003 09:54AM GMT

A US Republican has called for the adoption of CDMA mobile phone technology in post-war Iraq - claiming it's the least the American people are owed, and arguing against using the European standard GSM because of Europe's widespread opposition to the war.

Much of the issue rests on who holds the patents for the two technologies.

Republican Darrell Issa said: "If US taxpayers are going to be gifting billions of dollars in technology and infrastructure to the Iraqi people, we ought to make sure, to the greatest extent possible, that those expenditures also benefit the American people and the American economy. If we build a system based on European technology, the Europeans will receive the royalties, not US patent holders."

However, Issa's motives have been drawn into question by the fact he represents the corner of California where Qualcomm is based. For the record, Qualcomm made one of the largest donations to Issa's campaign during the last election. Qualcomm also holds the patent for CDMA technology.

Issa introduced a bill this week to bar GSM from being considered in the rebuilding of Iraq.

Qualcomm did not respond to a request for comment.
By Will Sturgeon and Declan McCullagh