Or is, anyway, to those of us who own shares of ParkerVision.
The plot, it seems, thickens.
You may recall that a jury unanimously awarded PRKR $173 million in damages against Qualcomm in 2013.
After all, they were shown internal emails from Qualcomm senior executives like this one, in 1999, that said: “The truth is ParkerVision have stumbled on something revolutionary.â€Â And this one to Qualcomm’s CEO at the time: “This is critical technology we must land.â€
You can see it all laid out in this video I have linked to before.
Rather than license PRKR’s technology — that ultimately came to reside in literally billions of cell phones — Qualcomm, in the jury’s unanimous view, stole it.
It had taken a decade to get the case in front of a jury. Giants like Qualcomm can afford legal talent who are really good at delay.
But there it was: $173 million for past use of the intellectual property, plus a royalty to be negotiated on all future use. The judge seemed fine with that.
And then six months later, out of the blue, he threw out the verdict.
What?
What happened?
Today, PRKR released what it says is the first of a four-episode “Against the Giants†video series.
The larger significance — and why it might gain some traction, at least among inventors and patent attorneys — is that Qualcomm is not the only tech giant that squashes small inventors who cannot possibly afford decades of litigation to enforce their patents. Which, apart from being truly unAmerican and unfair, may affect our global competitiveness.
According to “Episode 1†of “Against the Giants,†which I’ve just watched, Qualcomm was a frequent visitor to ParkerVision’s website. No great surprise there. But a couple of days after Qualcomm’s CEO hosted an Obama fundraiser, there was a visit from a computer in the White House. And a few days after that, the Obama-appointed judge threw out the verdict.
I’d be amazed if the President had any direct involvement. He remains my hero. But was one of the aides with him that night persuaded by Qualcomm’s CEO that PRKR’s lawsuit threatened national security?
We may not have heard the end of this.
I asked ChatGPT just now: “what is the status of ParkerVision patents lawsuits?â€
ParkerVision has been involved in several patent enforcement actions. Here’s a brief update on the status of some of their key lawsuits:
- ParkerVision v. Qualcomm: The Federal Circuit recently reversed a previous non-infringement ruling and remanded the case back to the district court for further proceedings. This means the case will continue in the Florida district court.
- ParkerVision v. LG Electronics: This case has been stayed pending the final determination in the Qualcomm case.
- ParkerVision v. MediaTek: The case is currently pending, with a claim construction hearing scheduled for January 26, 2024, and a trial date set for April 14, 2025.
- ParkerVision v. Realtek: This case is also pending, with a claim construction hearing scheduled for January 26, 2024, and a trial date set for March 17, 2025.
ParkerVision continues to actively pursue its patent enforcement actions to protect its patented technology.
So then I asked: “what was the outcome of the January 26, 2024, MediaTek and RealTek construction hearings?â€
The January 26, 2024, claim construction hearings for the ParkerVision cases against MediaTek and Realtek resulted in favorable rulings for ParkerVision. The court adopted ParkerVision’s proposed claim constructions for most of the disputed terms in both cases.
The stock could still go to zero. Or, conceivably, to 5 or, well . . . who knows?
I own a ridiculous number of shares, some of which I plan to sell if and as the price rises in anticipation of these trials, but many of which I expect to hold on the chance that justice may finally, perhaps even spectacularly, at long last, in my lifetime, be done.
Editors Note: This article was originally published on January 30th, 2025 on andrewtobias.com, syndicated with permission.
