I figure I may as well pipe in with my opinions on why licensing has come to a stop, and what may be a waiting us with patent re-certification.

The way I look at it, regarding the question of why licensing has come to a holt, is that it is an extremely good sign. I cannot overempasize this. Other than the PTO examiner himself, who has the best true view on how the re-exams are going? TPL. Who is in charge, basically, of all licensing activity? TPL.

While I agree with a lot of what others say, IMO things really haven't changed much, regarding risk, for prospective licensees. There has always been the question of patent validity. There has always been the question of "what's it worth to remove the risk should it be proven that the patents are valid". It's the dollars.

Now the other component/side of the negotiating table. With their visibility on how the re-exams are going, what do you do with this knowledge in your hip pocket? Other factor in play - do we need cash (to support operations) right now, urgently, or can we float for awhile? (at least until a re-exam is complete, plus a month). Assuming there is cash available to slide for a couple/few months, go back to your hip pocket situation.

Now the question becomes do you sell something worth a marginal amount now (due to PTO risk), or simply wait a couple of weeks for a positive PTO outcome with the expectation that an amount far greater will become justified? Perhaps the better question is, how do you price a license to a new prospective licensee based on the hip pocket info? The price assigned should reflect their level of confidence in their dealings with the PTO.

While I struggle to clarify the basis of my proposition, perhaps I can sum it up with still another question. Is the price for a license currently considered too high? Remember, for propective licensees, that's the bottom line. If the current price were considered reasonable, we'd have signings. IMO, it's fairly obvious that the current price for a license is consider too high.

What does this tell us? IMO, it suggests that TPL's confidence in its dealings with the PTO is extremely high. They've (apparently) "priced in" a positive result from the PTO in their license fee. Hence, no takers.

Would they do that if there were any question in their minds about the re-exams?

Put another way, if there were a question in their minds re: PTO success, wouldn't they mitigate the risk and price the license such that there were takers, lots of them?

So, while some worry about the lack of licensees over the last couple of months, I think of how much more worried I'd feel if there were a lot of signings. To me, that would signal low confidence in the PTO outcome(s), and hence a low price for a license. A "get as many suckers as you can to sign up now before the bad news, and lack of justification for a license - at all - comes down the pike" type attitude. That situation would scare the heck out of me.

So I say again, regarding the question of why licensing has come to a holt, IMO it is an extremely good sign.

BTW, why is it again that we're in litigation with the T3 - per the T3? License price too high.

Apologies for a pretty poorly composed message. But hopefully the message gets through....

SGE