InterDigital: Patent Battles and Big Profits from Standard Licenses
Anyone who uses a cell phone or streams videos today inevitably makes use of InterDigital’s intellectual property. The US company has radically done away with its own manufacturing facilities. Instead, since the turn of the millennium, over USD 1.3 billion has been invested in the development of well over 30,000 patents and patent applications, 90% of which were developed in-house. This massive library of intellectual property rights becomes a toll booth as soon as international bodies adopt the technologies into binding mobile communications or video standards. Since there are no technical alternatives for hardware companies, the revenue, in the form of a mix of fixed-price agreements and unit-based licensing fees, flows in almost effortlessly.
But InterDigital’s business model is not a sure thing. Defending these toll booths requires constant legal readiness and comes with associated costs. The decades-long legal dispute with Lenovo shows that negotiations are often protracted. Only after countless court proceedings did the parties agree in October 2024 to a binding arbitration process. In Europe, too, InterDigital is dependent on litigation. The landmark decision by the European Court of Justice in February 2025 in the case of BSH Hausgeräte v. Electrolux allows patent holders, under certain conditions, to enforce non-EU intellectual property rights in European courts. This provides InterDigital with additional options. By licensing into the growing market for electric vehicle charging stations, the company is successfully expanding into new areas. Those who do not find legal disputes paralyzing may want to take a closer look at InterDigital’s business model.
AbbVie as a Biotechnology Powerhouse
When it comes to innovative drugs and active ingredients, AbbVie masters the game of intellectual property rights and licensing like few other players. To cushion the risk of expiring active ingredient patents for Humira, once a billion-dollar cash cow, the US corporation erected an unprecedented thicket of patents consisting of nearly 250 patent applications. This protective barrier covered every conceivable modification, from the pain-reduced formulation to the sophisticated autoinjector pen, and successfully blocked biosimilar competitors from entering the US market until early 2023. Thanks to the window of opportunity this created, AbbVie was able to launch its successor drugs, Skyrizi and Rinvoq. The success of this move is evident in the raw numbers. The combined sales volume of these two new promising products reached the USD 25.87 billion mark in 2025.
Globex Mining holds 272 mineral projects and occupies the bottleneck of the future
While technology and pharmaceutical giants secure their toll booths with patents, Globex Mining is focusing on the mineral sector. Under the leadership of experienced geologist Jack Stoch, the company has, over decades, positioned itself as a diversified project and license generator. Instead of pouring hundreds of millions into the capital-intensive construction of a mine, Globex countercyclically secures promising mineral properties. With minimal investment of its own in historical data and surface sampling, the group further develops the projects before transferring them to financially strong partners in exchange for cash payments, share packages, and royalties.
The latest transactions by this innovative resource conglomerate prove that this model works. In June 2025, Agnico Eagle Mines paid the final tranche of CAD 3.0 million from the Francoeur sale, while Electro Metals will pay an additional CAD 3.5 million over four years for the Magusi-Fab deposit. With a well-stocked cash reserve of over CAD 40 million, no debt, and a portfolio totaling 272 resource assets, the license specialist is perfectly positioned in the current market environment. Several advanced license projects are set to come online by 2028, including the Bell Mountain gold project in Nevada and the Mont-Sorcier iron ore project in Quebec, which, according to a preliminary economic assessment, could generate annual GMR royalties of CAD 7 to 10 million for Globex.
Bright Outlook for Globex: Geopolitical Tensions and a Defence Industry Renaissance
Figures from independent experts confirm that Globex is well-positioned. The International Energy Agency (IEA) warns of an unprecedented supply gap for critical metals. To achieve net-zero targets by 2040, global demand for critical minerals must quadruple. While electric vehicles consume enormous amounts of copper and lithium, global exploration spending, adjusted for inflation, remains at a meagre 2% increase. Analysts estimate that the capital needed in the short term to develop new mining projects by 2030 alone amounts to an astronomical USD 250 to 350 billion, as drastic supply shortages otherwise loom. Globex has projects in North America for nearly all relevant commodities in its portfolio. This focus is unique. Thanks to consistent revenue from option agreements, Globex has not had to conduct a single share consolidation since 1987 and consistently limits dilution for shareholders. As a result, the company offers many of the qualities that long-term investors seek.
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