Via Licensing is making good on its pledge to launch an LTE patent pool. Today Via released the names of the ten companies that are already part of its consortium and will license their standard essential LTE patents as a group. They are AT&T, Clearwire Corporation, DTVG Licensing (DIRECTV), HP, KDDI Corporation, NTT DOCOMO, SK Telecom, Telecom Italia, Telefónica and ZTE Corporation.
Notably absent from the list are the semiconductor companies who hold some of the most crucial patents needed to develop wireless devices. Also absent are the industry’s two most notorious patent litigators, Apple and Samsung. Via president Roger Ross says his company is talking to 26 patent holders altogether, including “a couple of chip companies,” and he expects the number of companies in the patent pool to grow. All 26 of the companies involved hold at least one standard essential patent, meaning they hold a patent that must be licensed in order to make products that meet the requirements of standards bodies.
“We see the wireless industry as an industry that desperately needs this kind of support,” says Ross, whose company has previously created patent pools for the audio and automotive industries. “Every dollar these companies are not spending to litigate on essential patents is a dollar they can pour into innovations.”
By licensing groups of essential patents, companies can avoid litigation and multiple licensing fees. Via says licensees will get all essential patents from the companies in the pool, even if those patents have not yet been identified. Ross says licensees will pay roughly the same price regardless of the size or scale of their operations, although in some cases Via will offer “volume discounts.”
Ross thinks the patent pool can provide confidence to smaller operators who are just starting to think about LTE. But he sees even more potential in some of the newer applications of wireless technology. “Where we see this really taking off and creating security is some of the less traditional spaces like M2M,” he says.
Via Licensing is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dolby Laboratories (DLB). In addition to the companies in the LTE patent pool, Via provides patent licensing services to Nokia, Samsung and Microsoft, among others.
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