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Intellectual property, patents, and patent litigation have increasingly come up as breaking news stories in the mobile wireless world. Patent litigation is being used to not only defend intellectual property, but also as both an offensive and defensive strategy between competing companies. Over the last several years, patent litigation activity seems to have increased exponentially. Companies have increased their focus on their patent portfolios as a way to maximize shareholder value. This report covers the activity and issues of IP, royalties, and litigation around handsets - mostly smartphones - in the industry. It takes a look at what the effects of the America Invents Act and the resulting changes around filing and contesting patents will be when it takes effect in 2013. The market sizing in the report is focused on WWAN royalties on handsets, and of that it specifically sizes 3GPP-related handsets. For each of GSM, GSM/WCDMA, and GSM/WCDMA/LTE handsets, this research provides the royalty rates by patent portfolio strength, the average WWAN royalty rates, the average selling prices of the handset for that WWAN technology combination, and the resulting WWAN handset royalty revenues.

What Questions Does This Report Answer?

• What effect will the America Invents Act have on large and small companies filing patents in 2013?
• What is happening between Apple and Samsung? Is Apple pushing its luck in certain countries?
• What have patent pool companies been up to, and will they be successful?
• What are the total revenues paid for handsets with GSM, WCDMA, and LTE broken out by 2G, 3G, and 4G handsets today and in 2016?
• How quickly will the bulk of the WWAN patent royalties shift from GSM/WCDMA (2G/3G) handsets to GSM/WCDMA/LTE (2G/3G/4G) handsets?
• Are GSM (2G) handsets still relevant for WWAN royalty revenues? How quickly are they falling, and what are the reasons other than lower shipment numbers?

Who Needs This Report?

• WWAN chipset vendors
• Handset vendors
• Mobile device vendors
• Mobile OS vendors
• Mobile network operators
• Patent pool companies

目次

 

Mobile Device Royalties Approaching the $20 Billion Mark

NEW YORK - January 9, 2012

​The GSM, WCDMA, and LTE royalties on cellular phones will continue to grow for the next few years, but are starting to flatten out. GSM handset royalties are already playing a much less significant role for royalty revenues, with GSM/WCDMA/LTE handset royalties becoming increasingly significant.

GSM/WCDMA handset royalties hold the lion’s share because of the size of the 3G handset market. Bilateral roaming agreements may cancel out a lot royalties paid, but what is left is still significant and can weigh heavily on handset vendors with rising market share but weak patent portfolios. For GSM/WCDMA handsets, vendors pay anything from less than 4% if they have a very strong patent portfolio to well into the teens. The average paid, weighed by market share, will fluctuate between approximately seven and eight percent. It gets much worse for a company with a weak patent portfolio selling 2G/3G/4G handsets with LTE.

“WWAN royalties on handsets are a significant source of revenue for companies holding the largest amount of essential patents,” says Philip Solis, research director, mobile networks. “In addition to being a source of revenue for companies, patents are being used more aggressively for offense and defense against competitors.”

Apple, Google, HTC, Microsoft, Motorola Mobility, and Samsung are just some of the companies that have been suing other companies or defending themselves in lawsuits. Apple has been very aggressive with its patent lawsuits around the world and is finding some success in banning product imports in some countries against companies like Samsung and HTC. In its aggressiveness, Apple is also running into antitrust issues in a few countries. For example, in Spain, Apple is undergoing an antitrust investigation after losing a suit against NT-K related to media tablets – a category where Apple still has strong market dominance.

ABI Research’s new report, “Mobile Device Royalties,” covers the activity and issues of IP, royalties, and litigation around handsets - mostly smartphones - in the industry. For each of GSM, GSM/WCDMA, and GSM/WCDMA/LTE handsets, this research provides the royalty rates by patent portfolio strength, the average WWAN royalty rates, the average selling prices of the handset for that WWAN technology combination, and the resulting WWAN handset royalty revenues.