Sisvel Achieves Critical Mass for a New Joint Platform in Licensing 4G Technology: LTE/SAE Patent Pool Group Expands to 32 Industry Leaders

HONG KONG, April 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Sisvel announced today that 32 companies are now participating in its facilitation process to create an LTE/SAE patent pool.  The group, which just concluded a general meeting in Hong Kong on April 21st and 22nd, joins LTE/SAE patent owners from the entire spectrum of relevant industries, including telecommunications companies (both network operators and equipment vendors), consumer electronics and integrated circuit manufacturers, and research institutes from China, Japan, Korea, Europe, and North America.  Based on declarations of essentiality to standardization bodies, such as ETSI and TTA, these 32 companies hold over 60 percent of the intellectual property relevant for the emerging LTE/SAE standard.

"With such a substantial portion of the relevant intellectual property represented in its facilitation process, Sisvel is uniquely positioned to build a pool that will have a historic impact on patent licensing in the wireless world," explained Giustino de Sanctis, Managing Director of Sisvel Germany.  "With this critical mass in both breadth and substance, this group can establish a powerful yet fundamentally balanced pool that will benefit the LTE ecosystem as a whole by providing more certainty and predictability around licensing terms and costs, while also creating a more level playing field for all stakeholders," Mr. de Sanctis continued.

"There is a widespread understanding that the IP landscape in LTE/SAE is more complex and diverse when compared to previous generations of telecommunications standards," Mr. de Sanctis added. "And LTE/SAE should have a joint licensing platform that reflects that landscape."  Participating LTE/SAE stakeholders are moving forward together in shaping the direction for licensing 4G technology, and will meet again in mid-June in Washington, DC. Participation in Sisvel's group remains open to additional companies holding an essential LTE/SAE patent.  Please contact Sisvel for more information.

About LTE/SAE

LTE (Long Term Evolution) is the evolution of 3GPP standards for land mobile communications.  It will provide higher transmission rates and enhanced user experience, primarily with high speed data services.  SAE (System Architecture Evolution) is the enhancement of Packet Switched technology to cope with rapid growth in IP traffic.  LTE/SAE form the basis of 3GPP Release 8 specification set.

About Sisvel

Started in 1982 when Sisvel S.p.A. was founded in Italy, the Sisvel Group has become a world leader in managing intellectual property and maximizing the value of patent rights. The Sisvel Group is global in scope and reach, with companies in Italy (Sisvel and Sisvel Technology in None Torinese, and Edico in Rome), the United States (Sisvel US and Audio MPEG in Metropolitan Washington, DC), China (Sisvel Hong Kong), Japan (Sisvel Japan in Tokyo), and Germany (Sisvel Germany in Stuttgart), and with over eighty professionals worldwide with technical, legal, and licensing expertise.

Sisvel has a long history of managing successful patent portfolios including those related to the audio compression standards known as MP3 and MPEG Audio.  In addition to managing a portfolio of patents relating to the DECT standard for portable digital telephones, Sisvel administers patent pools for the CDMA2000 family of cellular telecommunications standards, the UHF-RFID air interface standard, and the DVB-T broadcast standard, and is currently facilitating the creation of LTE, DVB-H, and DVB-T2 patent pools.  Through its subsidiary Sisvel Technology, Sisvel is also engaged in the development of new technologies, including projects for 3D television and broadcasting.

For additional information regarding Sisvel, please visit www.sisvel.com.

SOURCE Sisvel S.p.A.