An article over “Seekingalpha” has calculated the amount of cash, Nokia generated by licensing its patent portfolio to other smartphone manufacturers last year. It seems that the cash inflow due to IPR licensing has been around $1.28 billion. This is how the calculation has been done,
In the company’s 20-F it is said that Nokia’s devices and services generated €15.87 billion in revenues, which translates into $20.63 billion. There is a note under the table which says that IPR income is included in this figure. Next, the company reports 2 more tables which state that the smartphones generated €5.45 billion ($7.08 billion) and the feature phones generated €9.44 billion ($12.27 billion) in revenues. These two tables have a note saying that these figures exclude IPR income. When we add these two revenue figures, we get a total of €14.89 billion which is $19.35 billion in revenues. The difference between the two figures (i.e., excluding IPR income vs. including IPR income) is $1.28 billion which is the exact amount generated by Nokia’s devices and services segment from licensing fees and royalty payments. The company’s 20-F reports that €50 million ($65 million) came from non-recurring payments and the rest of the money would be recurring payments.
Since only $65 million came through non-recurring payments, hence rest all is recurring payment. Which means Nokia may be able to make similar amount of money this year as well through IPR licensing. Also, with smartphone industry volume only going up, it may still lead to even better royalty income for Nokia, as many of these licensed payments are essential ones.
