Licensing (Patents, Royalties, …) News

Broadcom and Verizon Wireless Announce Broad-based Strategic Alliance
Jul 19, 2007 – Broadcom and Verizon Communications have announced that they have entered into a strategic alliance involving new mobile device chipsets and other products, including Bluetooth® and wireless LAN solutions, optical network solutions, Multimedia over Coaxial Cable (MoCA) devices, GPS location technology, and DSL and fiber network components including set-top boxes.
News categories: Verizon Communications, Broadcom, Broadband, Digital TV, Fibre, IPTV, Licensing, Mobile, Patent, Semiconductor, Set Top Box, Smart Home, Smartphone, USA

Free Software Foundation Releases GPL v.3
Jul 5, 2007 – The Free Software Foundation (FSF) last Friday released Version 3 of the GNU General Public License. One of the most controversial aspects of GPL v.3 has been the ideological stance of the license's authors against DRM.
News categories: Free Software Foundation (FSF), Digital TV, DRM, Licensing

QUALCOMM and Siano Sign FLO Chip Agreement
Jun 18, 2007 – QUALCOMM (Nasdaq: QCOM) and Siano Mobile Silicon have announced that the companies have signed a royalty-free agreement that enables Siano to use QUALCOMM's patented technologies to produce chips that implement FLO™ technology.
News categories: Siano Mobile Silicon, QUALCOMM, Digital TV, Mobile, Patent, Semiconductor, Smart TV

Key CMMB Patents to Be Royalty-Free
Jun 17, 2007 – The Mobile Media Standards Working Group has confirmed that the holders of key patents for the CMMB standard will charge no royalties for the next two years, with a nominal RMB 1 charge subsequently. More …
News categories: China, Digital TV, Mobile, Patent

China STB makers face DVB-T patent fees in Europe
May 31, 2007 – It seems patent fees are fast becoming a big headache for China tech companies who ship products to Europe, according to a CCID Consulting report. More …
News categories: China, Digital TV, Europe, Patent, Set Top Box, Terrestrial

MPEG LA Announces Effort to Facilitate HD DVD Patent License
May 9, 2007 – MPEG LA has issued a call for patents and patent applications that are essential to the HD DVD Standard in order to facilitate creation of a joint HD DVD patent license. More …
News categories: Digital TV, DVD, HD-DVD, Licensing, Patent

Microsoft mugged over VC-1 codec patent terms
Apr 16, 2007 – VC-1, after a flying start, has fallen back and pretty much these days the codec of choice is either VP6 from On2 Technologies for web video and H.264 for everything else, with no VC-1 in sight. More …
News categories: Digital TV, Licensing, Patent

Mobile TV is next IPR battleground
Apr 9, 2007 – Our source at Qualcomm was, the other day, defending his company’s mobile TV proposition – MediaFLO. He let slip, however, that Nokia might have patents on DVB-H that rival handset vendors have overlooked. More …
News categories: Digital TV, Mobile, Patent, Smart TV

MPEG LA Issues VC-1 Patent Portfolio License
Mar 15, 2007 – MPEG LA today announced the availability of the VC-1 Patent Portfolio License. More …
News categories: Digital TV, Licensing, Patent