The Law Suit around the Corner with IP

I have talked about the market and profit possibilities in my last post and this aspect of the whole standardization process is undoubtedly very important. The cost of a product is given by the size of silicon used or by the market gap it can fill out. Or at least that is how we usually look at the value for money of a product. It would be all hunky dory if it were so simple. Unfortunately, the danger with new technologies is that Intellectual Property rights can make the price of a product encompassing that particular technology to go way up. This is not even the major problem, because, if these rights are handled up front at the beginning, the cost can increase but will remain fixed. So no surprises! But what if chips start selling by the billions and greedy money makers claim rights in your product, in the technology you use? That’s known in this environment as the patent trolls and boy can they strip you down of a lot of pennies.