InterDigital launches SEP ‘transparency’ website
Mobile and video technology company InterDigital has published details of its standard-essential patent (SEP) licensing rate programme as part of a new “transparency initiative”.
The aim of the initiative, which sees data about its large SEP portfolio published on a new microsite, is to make SEP information more readily accessible, the company said.
William J Merritt, InterDigital’s president and CEO, said: “We firmly believe that we have one of the fairest licensing programmes in relation to our leading portfolio of standard-essential patents, and we’re proud to bring all of our key licensing information together in one place that is broadly accessible by the public.”
Details about the company’s portfolio related to 3G, 4G and 5G as well as key additional technologies, such as Wi-Fi and HEVC, will be published on the site. This covers a total footprint of almost 10,000 patents and applications related to key communication standards.
In December last year, an array of technology companies and carmakers appealed to the European Commission to intervene to ensure that SEPs are licensed on fair terms.
A letter to the commission, signed by 27 companies including Apple, Cisco, Daimler, BMW and Lenovo, said that it was increasingly difficult to access technology essential to self-driving cars and other connected devices on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms.
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