5G’s Arrival Tees Up Patent Fights in Market Set to Grow 12,000%
- Qualcomm, Nokia stand to benefit from recent court rulings
- Market is forecast to grow to $668 billion globally by 2026
Photographer: Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images
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Battles unfolding on several continents over who profits from connected cars, smarthomes, and robotic surgery may dwarf the size and scope of the tech industry’s first worldwide patent war -- the one over smartphones.
Automakers are now in court fighting some of the same companies that phonemakers such as Apple Inc. had to pay billions of dollars for use of their wireless standards technology. Those companies -- Qualcomm Inc., Nokia Oyj, and other telecommunications developers -- may reap 5G royalties not only from “talking cars” but from products that will communicate wirelessly being planned in agriculture, medicine, appliances and other sectors.