IEEE and Via Licensing Announce Move to Patent Pools

In an effort to accelerate and broaden the adoption of IEEE standards-based technologies, VIA Licensing Corporation and the IEEE Standards Association have recently announced a collaboration effort by which the two companies will try to create patent licensing programs, also known as patent pools, around some of the group's communications standards.

 

The two organizations plan to generate the much-needed awareness on the benefits provided by patent pools, which they will present to the IEEE-SA corporate stakeholder community. The patent pools, which will be administered by Via, will bring together multiple entities that own patents required for the practice of IEEE standards. These entities will then be able to license their individual Intellectual Property (IP) rights using a streamlined process.

 

According to Managing Director, IEEE Standards Association, Judith Gorman, “The collaboration with Via Licensing is a groundbreaking step for the IEEE in addressing the needs of our industry stakeholders to see their significant investment in standards development rewarded. We expect that our participation at the earliest stages of the patent pooling process will reduce the barriers that prevent the rapid adoption of technology standards.”

 

The solution chosen by the two organizations is to be explained mainly by the increasing popularity of patent pools, which, in recent years, have been used to handle licensing in cases of relatively large numbers of patent holders and licensors. One of the main advantages of the solution is that it can enable a lower cost of the transaction, and reduce the time and uncertainty that is generally associated with negotiating deals.

 

“Today’s announcement reduces some of the barriers preventing the rapid adoption of IEEE standards in the market and can help streamline the process for licensing essential patents,” said Senior Director, IP Licensing and Claims, NXP, Harald Roeggla.

 

As per a recent piece on EE Times, observers and potential participants have already welcomed the move.