"So, is it possible, that NEC signed an agreement today that only covers non-Arm technology, and in fact they are still on the hook or ARM is still on the hook for NEC products that are found to infringe on the ‘584 in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:sm... />Texas?"

Another interesting thought from you! It's actually a multi-question.

First, regarding whether NEC may have perhaps licensed only to cover non-ARM-based products; I suppose it could be done, in that a license is merely a contract, and therefore the parties can agree to include/exclude whatever they want. The question becomes, why would they do this? There may be good reasons, and the following may get confusing (sorry, but nature of this beast). The good only reason I can think of is that, by doing this, NEC would have to have the perception that ARM will essentially share the burden for those cases where NEC used ARM chips and there was no patent indemnification clause in play. Note I say "perception", for if the case actually came before a jury and T&T prevailed, I doubt the thought of "shared burden" would be at the forefront of the minds of the jury. But, if this were the case, NEC will remain among the defendents (i.e., if they are dropped, then this scenario didn't happen).

Now for the thoughts that splinter off of this:

Regarding the above thought, there are a bunch of reasons why NEC wouldn't want to do that, the biggest being that they're getting a discount (discount? get everything covered and be done!). And if they had done this they'd still be on the hook in a situation where, by virtue of today's license, they concede that, in fact, they have been infringing AND the patents are valid. It would kill their litigation position.

Another thought: NEC may have had patent indemnification clauses in place on all of their POs to ARM. Thus, this license is only for non-ARM-based products (and you've indirectly hit the nail on the head - watch your thumb! LOL).

Finally, regardless of NEC's license, ARM is still on the hook, including for product sold to NEC. They profited from those sales and cannot, IMO, escape.

These things I'm pretty sure of.

And thank you for your contributions! Great board since the trash got taken out! Thanks to all!

SGE