I can become stronger by paying salaries. I have one billion employees!

Chapter 549 Reconciliation? Paul: I dare not gamble! I'm afraid you'll choke me!

Can we win?
Paul Jacob paused for a moment, then immediately fell silent.

From November 2013 to January 2014, over three months, Qualcomm's powerful legal team reviewed the materials submitted by both parties hundreds of times.

The final conclusion is that winning this patent infringement case is easy, but achieving the desired results is difficult.

Because of the patent pool built by Tiangong Technology, Qualcomm's way out has also been blocked.

If Tiangong Technology sues Qualcomm in intellectual property courts in Europe, South America, and Southeast Asia, Qualcomm will have no choice but to respond.

Based on the current evidence and patent comparison, Qualcomm has a 60-70% chance of losing this lawsuit.

“Boss, the other party is very well prepared. If we can’t apply for pre-litigation injunction, I suggest we negotiate with Tiangong Technology.”

"That's what Longfellow, the head of the legal department, said bluntly."

"If Qualcomm can't win, does that mean Tiangong Technology can?"

Paul Jacobs turned around and looked directly at Chen Yansen, asking him a question.

"Shall we go for a drink on the 21st floor?" Chen Yansen understood the other person's implied meaning and suggested with a smile.

The 21st floor is where the hotel's executive corridor is located, offering not only food and beverages but also a lounge area and meeting rooms.

“Mr. Chen, please!” Paul gestured with his hand.

Just then, the elevator stopped at the current floor.

The two exchanged a smile and stepped inside.

Song Yuncheng pressed the floor button, and the elevator doors slowly closed.

Both Chen Yansen and Paul Jacobs are typical businessmen.

Lawsuits are just one of the means by which both sides suppress their opponents.

Since we can't achieve our goal, we need to try a different approach.

If Paul Jacobs can be so shameless, Chen Yansen certainly can too.

Moreover, the lukewarm reception of the Snapdragon 810 upon its release dealt a heavy blow to Qualcomm.

In contrast, Tiangong, Nvidia, and Huawei have complemented each other's weaknesses through cross-licensing of patents.

This was unacceptable to Paul Jacob!
Especially after comparative testing, it was found that the power consumption control and performance of the Tegra 4H are better than those of the Snapdragon 800. Although its performance is not as good as the Snapdragon 810, its power consumption is much lower than that of the Snapdragon 810.

The Tegra 4H integrates NVIDIA's self-developed baseband module and fully leverages its advantages in the GPU field, making it a high-quality processor product.

While MediaTek's MT6599 is not as good as the Snapdragon 800, the difference is not significant. Relying on its advantages of high quality and low price, it has snatched away many orders and customers from Qualcomm.

With the addition of the Tiangong A100, these three processors have had a huge impact on the Snapdragon series.

The technical department has conducted in-depth research and found that the superiority of the Tiangong A100 and Tegra 4H is not only reflected in their graphics processing capabilities and signal decoding, but more importantly, both products use the encoding rules of the Orange Z1 instruction set.

Previously, although Qualcomm purchased an architecture license for the Orange Z1 instruction set, it was only for research and learning purposes and had no intention of using it to develop new products.

Now, faced with difficulties, Paul Jacobs hesitated.

But if the architecture technology of the Orange Z1 instruction set is adopted, who can guarantee that Tiangong Technology will not ask for an exorbitant price or hold Qualcomm hostage after the contract expires?
Paul wouldn't dare gamble until an agreement was reached!

Both of them harbored their own ulterior motives, smiling on the surface but secretly plotting how to scheme against each other.

With a "ding," the elevator doors opened.

"please!"

This time, it was Chen Yansen who spoke.

Paul smiled and gave him a deep look.

After politely declining each other's offer, the two walked out of the elevator together.

"Hey? That Asian guy next to Paul looks familiar?"

At a nearby dining table, Google CEO Larry Page asked the executive director next to him.

“Boss, this is Chen Yansen, the founder of Senlian Capital.” Eric Schmidt pushed up his glasses, stared at him for more than ten seconds, and then turned to reply.

"How did those two get together?" Larry looked at Paul and Chen Yansen, who were walking slowly towards them, with a strange expression.

Eric crossed his arms and gave a meaningful smile.

Seeing this, Larry leaned back and gave an embarrassed smile.

He was a smart man and immediately realized that he had asked a very stupid question.

Chen Yansen strode forward.

It was lunchtime, and along the way, he saw many familiar faces.

Bill Gates, founder and technology advisor of Microsoft!
Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook!
Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs!

UBS CEO Sergio Elmoti!

He didn't recognize most of the remaining people.

He met the heads of Goldman Sachs and UBS when he went to New York to ring the bell for their IPOs.

When Chen Yansen passed by, he made a point of stopping and giving him a brief greeting.

Paul wasn't idle either; he exchanged a few pleasantries with the chairmen of Microsoft, Cisco, and Intel.

Three minutes later, the two sat down at a table next to the floor-to-ceiling window.

The night outside the window was deep, the mountain shadows were as dark as ink, and the snow surface reflected the faint light of the sky.

Chen Yansen picked up his teacup, took a small sip, then turned his right hand to the side, spread his palm, and gestured for Paul to speak first.

Paul waved his hand and kicked the ball back.

Whoever speaks first loses the initiative, and neither of them is willing to suffer a loss.

Chen Yansen leaned back and observed his surroundings.

If the other party isn't in a hurry, then he isn't in a hurry either.

After all, he had long been mentally prepared to fight a five- to ten-year legal battle with Qualcomm.

If we can talk, we will talk; if we can't talk, then we'll fight!
In mid-December, when Zhang Weili, President of MediaTek Greater China Region, visited to discuss cooperation, the two parties signed a cross-licensing agreement on some patents related to GPUs, CPUs, and basebands.

He has found a competitor for Qualcomm!

Even if Tiangong Technology doesn't step in, Nvidia and MediaTek, for their own interests, will not give up competing with Qualcomm for the mobile processor market.

With hundreds of billions of dollars in profits every year, who wouldn't be envious? Paul remained calm, holding his cuff and feeling from the edge to the button, his fingers deftly twirling around the edge of the button.

The female assistant sitting next to him seemed to be thinking about something, and subconsciously squeezed her legs together.

Seeing that no one was speaking, Song Yuncheng simply looked out at the scenery outside the hotel.

After about ten minutes, Paul sighed slightly and couldn't help but ask, "Mr. Chen, where did Tiangong Technology get its RF integration and modulation/demodulation technology?"

"Developed by research and development."

Chen Yansen is extremely concise with words.

Paul's expression froze, and he cursed under his breath: Are you kidding me?
He took a deep breath and got straight to the point: "I can license some of the patents on modulation and demodulation methods, frame structures and encoding protocols to Tiangong Technology for free, but Tiangong Technology's related patents must also be shared with Qualcomm free of charge."

Paul holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley, and has extensive knowledge of technologies in the fields of communications and integrated circuits.

His words were tantamount to him taking the initiative to lower his stance and begin peace talks.

It's worth noting that Qualcomm has always been very firm on patent barriers, so agreeing to share core communication patents is already a rare concession.

It is worth noting that Paul used the word "free".

"Which technologies? Tell me about them."

Chen Yansen looked at the other person with a calm and composed expression, and asked in return, "I don't deny it."

The patents he granted to MediaTek, Huawei, ZTE, and Nvidia can also be granted to Qualcomm.

As for the other patents, sorry, you'll have to pay extra!

For example, Huawei's upcoming Kirin 910 chip uses the core technologies of Orange Z1 instruction set, Xuanshu architecture and Hongyan baseband, with 40% relying on purchases and 60% on replacements.

Ultimately, though, I did pay money.

"Permanent architecture license for the Orange Z1 instruction set, the Xuanshu GPU architecture, and all overlapping patents of Qualcomm and Tiangong Technology in the baseband module."

Paul said slowly and deliberately.

"Then I'd like CDMA's soft handover, power control, and Rake receiver technology. I'm sure Mr. Paul wouldn't object?"

Chen Yansen replied with a smile.

When it comes to business, who doesn't ask for an exorbitant price?

"Haha, that depends on what kind of bargaining chips Mr. Chen can get."

Upon hearing this, Paul felt much more at ease.

He sensed from Chen Yansen's tone that the other party didn't want to waste time and energy on a patent infringement case that was destined to be fruitless.

Their conversation was merely a test.

A patent cross-licensing agreement will definitely need to be signed, but the specific details of the patents involved can only be finalized after detailed and professional calculations by the intellectual property and legal personnel of both parties.

Because the value of each patent varies drastically.

Some are core foundational patents that lay the foundation for the technical framework, some are edge improvement patents that optimize details, and others may be application-oriented patents for specific scenarios.

The legal team's job is not only to verify the validity and scope of the patents, but also to refer to transaction data from the global patent licensing market over the past five years to assign a reasonable "exchange value" to each patent included in the agreement.

"Mr. Jacob, it's a pleasure to meet you!"

Chen Yansen raised his teacup, using tea instead of wine, and this was the first time he truly greeted them.

"Mr. Chen, it's a pleasure doing business with you."

Paul smiled with satisfaction and responded immediately, his coffee cup gently clinking against Chen Yansen's teacup, producing a crisp sound.

His assistant frowned, completely baffled: how could the two of them have "cooperated happily" when they hadn't even reached an agreement on anything?

Song Yuncheng's English level is average. He has no problem with daily communication, but he struggles with complex professional vocabulary.

She understood most of it intermittently, her mind racing. After pondering for a moment, she vaguely had a definite answer in her mind.

After setting aside his reservations, Paul chatted with Chen Yansen about cooperation while drinking coffee.

He knew in his heart that Orange phones were performing just as well as Apple phones in the global market.

Furthermore, given Orange Technology's growth rate, it's entirely possible that its shipments in 2014 will exceed 1.6 million units, or even 2 million units.

Simply put, Senlian Capital is both a competitor of Qualcomm and an important purchaser of Qualcomm.

Apple has its own A-series chips.

The mountain star has Exynos chips, but the proportion of Snapdragon chips used is less than 40%.

To put it bluntly, Qualcomm cannot function without Orange Technology.

This is another reason why Paul was willing to reconcile.

Of course, the key to his eventual relent was the statement from his legal team that "we can't win."

Even with a 50% chance of winning, Paul would assemble a powerful legal team worldwide to sue Tiangong Technology into bankruptcy.

He knew better than anyone that the phrase "pleasant cooperation" was less about reaching a consensus and more about giving both parties a dignified way out.

Qualcomm needs Tiangong Technology's baseband patents, while Tiangong Technology also needs Qualcomm's fundamental patents in the field of communications to safeguard its expansion in overseas markets.

Otherwise, who knows, one day another company might jump out and sue Tiangong Technology for infringement.

After all, it's difficult to bypass the patent barriers that others have built over more than a decade on some fundamental patents.

Therefore, this peace talk was actually a tacit decision made by both sides after weighing the pros and cons to temporarily cease hostilities.

Half an hour later, Paul got up and left.

Chen Yansen watched the other person's retreating figure, a hint of joy flashing in his eyes.

He had been planning this since the day Tiangong Technology was founded, and fortunately, everything went smoothly without any major incidents.

At this moment, a middle-aged man in his thirties, wearing a jacket, came over. Upon seeing Chen Yansen, he breathed a sigh of relief: "Mr. Chen, Mr. Li and Mr. Sun invite you to the conference room to discuss the agenda for tomorrow's forum."

"Okay, could you please lead the way?"

Chen Yansen nodded in response.

Before long, the three entered a luxuriously decorated conference room, and the person in the lead was none other than Li Qingsong, whom they had not seen for a long time.

Although Song Yuncheng, who was following behind him, was surprised, he remained remarkably calm.

(End of this chapter)