Broadcom’s recent litigation with Qualcomm over two H.264 video codec patents, demonstrates that IP, the revenues accrued from licensing IP, customer protection from litigation that pass-through licensing can afford, and financial benefits from IP horse trading with a strong portfolio, have all resulted in IP becoming a far more integral part of a company’s business plans. ABI Research believes that the huge shift of R&D effort to 4G-enabling technologies and the significant sums involved in the technological evolution of these solutions will mean that IP will be drawn into a holistic offering by more organizations, and will be less resigned to a “behind the scenes” force.