Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.
What: Shares of ParkerVision, (PRKR 1.43%) ended Friday up 6% after surging to an opening-bell gain of nearly 11%. Investors cheered recent news out of the courts in ParkerVision's ongoing battle with mobile chip giant Qualcomm (QCOM -0.20%), but the gradual slide throughout the day indicated that the news wasn't as great as initially believed.
So what: This is ParkerVision's second go-around in the courts with Qualcomm, which it beat last October for a $173 million judgment on allegations of patent infringement. This case appears to be a continuation of the same issue, as ParkerVision and Qualcomm are presently exchanging motions in Florida's Middle District Court in the wake of a fresh patent infringement lawsuit filed last week.
ParkerVision is accusing both Qualcomm and Qualcomm's hardware partner HTC of infringing seven of its patents -- different than the ones litigated last October -- regarding radio-frequency and other wireless communications technologies. However, it appears that the motions that were filed on Friday largely relate to last October's ruling, as Qualcomm's motion for a new trial to decide damages was rejected, but several ParkerVision's filings on the same matter were rejected as well.
Now what: The last lawsuit between these two parties produced a very dramatic short term pop and subsequent drop in ParkerVision's shares when it was decided in October, with the end result becoming largely meaningless to shareholders as a double was entirely given up within days. Qualcomm has been fighting ParkerVision for years, and it seems unlikely that they'll give up substantially more ground than they already have. Buying shares in a company because you're anticipating its victory in some legal battle tends to be more of a gamble than a serious investment strategy, particularly if you don't know many of the details.
