Today, 3G Licensing, the licensing administrator of the WCDMA
Patent Licensing Programme, announced the publication of new royalty
rates under a renewed Joint License Agreement for Terminals, JLAV4.0
for the period 1 January 2009 to 31 December 2013 (5 years).
A royalty of between U.S. $1.00 and U.S. $2.00 for each WCDMA
terminal product for new licensees and a royalty of U.S. $1.00 for
licensees that have been licensed for two years or more has been
agreed by PlatformWCDMA Limited. The new royalty rates will apply for
the 5 year period from 1 January 2009 and represent a reduction over
the current license offer whilst at the same time offering a larger
essential patent portfolio with more patent owners. There are fidelity
discounts triggering royalty reductions after one year and two years.
JLAV4.0 delivers a license for the period 1 January 2004 to 31
December 2013 (10 years) providing transparency for prospective
licensees on essential patents from a large number of major essential
patent owners. Currently, there is a significant worldwide essential
patent family portfolio available under the terminal license
representing a substantial proportion of the overall number of
essential patent families for the WCDMA technology. It is anticipated
that more patent owners will join.
"We are pleased that the essential patent owners have released
commercially attractive royalty rates covering a period of the next
five years for a substantial portfolio of WCDMA essential patents
certified by an independent third party" said 3G Licensing Director
Brian Kearsey. "These levels of royalty for the WCDMA technology (and
its evolutions such as HSDPA and HSUPA) will further catalyse the
development of the UMTS market worldwide."
PlatformWCDMA Director & Chairperson, Hisashi Kato commented "As
recent 3G mobile terminals are increasingly developing in embedding
music, moving pictures and even broadcast features in addition to
voice communication, terminal manufacturers must comply with various
standards, not merely WCDMA, but also video, speech, broadcast, and
others. The royalties payable to numerous patentees under these
standards are expensively accumulating so that the competition in this
market is intensifying to meet the demand of multi-functionalities of
WCDMA terminals while manufacturers have to bear accumulative
royalties. This reduced royalty scheme is believed to provide a truly
satisfactory solution for the mobile terminal industries suffering
from the aforementioned dilemma. We are confident that PlatformWCDMA
is the core standard license provider on fair, reasonable and
non-discriminatory terms to access our essential patents covered
worldwide, and is expected to be even more enhanced by new patent
holders joining in the future."
Today more than 85 million terminals are licensed under the
licensing programme and the number is likely to increase substantially
with the launch of this new terminal license.
About 3G Licensing
3G Licensing Limited is responsible for the commercialisation
worldwide of the W-CDMA Patent Licensing Programme. The scope of the
programme covers the W-CDMA standards defined by 3GPP (including
W-CDMA FDD, and the planned evolution such as HSDPA and HSUPA). 3G
Licensing is incorporated in England, UK and located in Stamford, UK.
About PlatformWCDMA
PlatformWCDMA Limited is a company registered and incorporated in
England that was established in September 2003 specifically to govern
the W-CDMA Patent Licensing Programme. Membership of PlatformWCDMA is
open to all W-CDMA FDD essential patent holders and its prime role is
to establish the licensing terms and conditions of the W-CDMA Patent
Licensing Programme (the list of members/licensors may be found at
www.3glicensing.com). The day-to-day operations of the W-CDMA Patent
Licensing Programme are assigned to the Licensing Administrator, 3G
Licensing.
