Qualcomm restructuring illustrates perceived risks in participating in open source projects

Qualcomm is the poster child for value realization from a patent portfolio, owning and monetizing thousands of mobile technologies patents that generate 90 percent of the company's total patent licensing royalty revenues. Therefore, strategic or tactical moves Qualcomm makes interest the IP management audience.

Now the company has separated those valuable patents from open source activities, creating a separate unit (Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.) for R&D and to house the chip operations. The new unit will continue Qualcomm’s open source development activities while not exposing the valuable mobile technology patents to potential claims.