"I realize that's much less than we have been talking about, and I'm sure I'm overlooking something important, but what? Samsung makes many other things than cellphones, for instance? Has deeper pockets?"

I don't think that the 'deeper pockets' is a reason for the settlement amount being larger. I am not a lawyer, so I can't say that with certainty...

However, what you said about Samsung producing items other than cellphones makes sense to me. Ten years ago we speculated about all of the possible applications for its technology. Also, I took this excerpt from the 3/6/2008 press release regarding the overall litigation being pursued by eDigital:

"In its complaint e.Digital asserts that products made by the listed companies infringe four of the Company's U.S. patents covering the use of flash memory technology. These patents are part of e.Digital's Flash-R™ patent portfolio. The accused products range from digital cameras and camcorders to voice recorders and mobile phones."

Mobile phones are just part of what we are talking about, which is what you alluded to. Obviously Samsung has many other products that could have been produced in concert with infringing eDigital patents.

To me, this is the X factor when trying to fathom the Samsung settlement amount- just which products violated eDigital patents...it is likely not just the phones.