Keith, Isn't This Getting Old? Or Is There A Message To Be Read?>
ITU gets tough on 3G rights
Electronics Times
by John Walko
The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has warned that the
CDMA-based radio transmission technology - proposed as a global
standard for third-generation (3G) mobile phone systems by European and
Japanese groups - could be excluded from consideration if the stalemate
over intellectual property rights (IPR) is not resolved by the end of the year.
Ericsson and US group Qualcomm have been in dispute about IPR claims to
parts of the W-CDMA air interface proposal for much of this year. The
European standards group ETSI has been vigorously pushing the
W-CDMA specification, and Japanese group DoCoMo has started
implementing a 3G system based on W-CDMA.
Fabio Leite, chief counsellor at the ITU, said: "If ETSI, Qualcomm and
Ericsson can't resolve the impasse, and we hope they still can, we will not be
able to consider W-CDMA or the Qualcomm-devised cdma2000
proposed by the US for IMT-2000.
"We hope that this clarification in the ITU's position - that all patent
submissions for patent statements on IMT-2000 radio transmission
technologies must reach us by 31 December - will concentrate the minds of
those involved."
These patent statements would waive any company's IPR or commit a
company to negotiate licences on a non-discriminatory basis. If any proposal
involves patents without such commitment, the ITU cannot consider it in its
standards setting process. To date, Ericsson and Qualcomm have been
unwilling to provide such guarantees.
David Hendon, chairman of ETSI, says the ITU's stance makes no
difference. "The standards work for 3G systems is proceeding in regional
groups, while the ITU is simply trying to pull it all together.
"Last week's agreement in Copenhagen between five of the world's leading
standards setting bodies to work together on the W-CDMA proposal from
ETSI has shifted the centre of gravity towards this third generation
partnership project (3GPP).
"If the ITU is adamant we can't include this UMTS proposal in IMT-2000,
it will be their project that suffers."
The five organisations in 3GPP, including standards setting authorities in
Europe, the US, Japan and South Korea, have agreed to co-operate on the
production of technical specifications based on the evolution of the
European GSM cellular standards and UMTS terrestrial radio access.
Comment, page 18
(Copyright 1998)
_____via IntellX_____
Publication Date: January 04, 1999
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