Olinda Lee

Olinda Lee from William Blair asked about InterDigital's approach to M&A as a strategy to expand and deepen its patent portfolio, given the company's focus on R&D investment. She also inquired if there are fundamental differences in the litigation perspective when pursuing streaming services compared to the more established litigation processes with smartphone and CE/IoT industries.

Answer

Liren Chen, President and CEO, explained that InterDigital takes a broad approach to R&D investment, leveraging its advanced R&D engine and industry reputation to engage leading companies like Deep Render, noting that M&A helps fill research gaps and accelerate strong areas, indicating an open-minded approach. Regarding litigation, he highlighted that the streaming platform industry is relatively new for them compared to decades of licensing in smartphones, requiring extra time to demonstrate portfolio strength and convince streaming vendors to pay a fair price.

Olinda Lee inquired about InterDigital's strategy for M&A as part of its R&D efforts to expand and deepen its patent portfolio. She also asked if there are fundamental differences in litigation for streaming services compared to the company's experiences with smartphone and CE/IoT litigations.

Answer

Liren Chen (President and CEO, InterDigital) explained that InterDigital takes a broad approach to R&D investment, leveraging its advanced R&D engine and top innovators. He noted that M&A, such as the Deep Render acquisition, helps fill research gaps and accelerate strong areas, indicating an open-minded approach with a broad funnel for potential acquisitions. Regarding streaming service litigation, he stated that while InterDigital prefers bilateral negotiations, the streaming platform industry is relatively new for them compared to decades of smartphone licensing. He added that it takes extra time to demonstrate portfolio strength and convince vendors to pay a fair price, reflecting an earlier stage of customer engagement in this sector.