The portfolio comprises about 1,400 granted patents and pending patent applications from the United States and about 1,000 granted patents and pending patent applications from other countries, including China, England, Germany, Japan and South Korea. No one is saying how much Qualcomm paid for the patents. However patents are a big part of Qualcomm's profits.
Qualcomm makes a fortune from licensing patents for its CDMA cellphone technology and other technology related to mobile devices. Handset vendors, carriers and other licensees pay royalties to Qualcomm in return for access to a broad portfolio of intellectual property.
The HP patents cover technologies that include fundamental mobile operating system techniques. The patents are all that is left of Palm. Last year, HP sold webOS, which it received as part of the $1.2 billion Palm acquisition, to South Korea's LG.
