Interdigital communications is in the wireless business. But this King of Prussia, Pa. firm doesn't make any phones or handhelds. Instead it extracts money from companies that do. It has what it asserts is a library of 4,200 patents that govern the innards of wireless devices. Howard Goldberg, the 57-year-old chief executive of InterDigital, says, "We're at the core of the communications revolution. We keep gaining strength because we've been in the forre front of invention. We've kept our foot on the pedal more than anyone." Goldberg says he's got 300 engineers working in hushed videoconferencing rooms he calls "ideatoriums," where they find new ways to increase the range and signal strength of cell phones.
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