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To: Dexter Lives On who wrote (905)	6/10/2008 7:20:49 AM
From: Dexter Lives On	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1002

Cisco, Intel, Samsung plan to share WiMax patents Article Launched: 06/10/2008 01:33:38 AM PDT Cisco Systems, Intel and four other backers of a wireless Internet standard called WiMax said they want to help spread use of the technology by limiting possible patent royalties. Cisco, Intel, Samsung Electronics, Alcatel Lucent, Sprint Nextel and Clearwire will pool patents needed to develop equipment used on the new networks, making it easier for potential suppliers, Sriram Viswanathan, general manager of Intel Capital, said on a conference call. "It brings a mechanism to keep the royalty rates low," Viswanathan said. "It brings transparency." Backers of the technology want makers of consumer electronics to build printers, music-file players, digital cameras and other gadgets that will connect to the Internet using the new standard, executives on the call said. The failure of existing mobile-phone technology to break into this area is due to the cost of licensing the patents, Viswanathan said. - Bloomberg News mercurynews.com Open Patent Alliance - Official PR: openpatentalliance.com Intel, others announce WiMAX patent alliance; Qualcomm absent .... The cross-licensing agreement is a significant step for WiMAX, but the absence of Qualcomm from the agreement means that there could still be some protracted legal battles in the future for both competing 4G technologies. arstechnica.com WiMax patent alliance announced .... This is different than the cellular model, in which companies such as Qualcomm, Nokia, and Ericsson have separately developed technology and charged patent royalties for 3G products. Cell phone makers can spend more than 25 percent of developing a new product on licensing underlying wireless technologies, according to a Wall Street Journal article. Intel's Viswanathan said these high royalties are to blame for stifling innovation. He said that cellular chips have not expanded to other devices such as cameras, music players, or gaming devices because of the high cost of licensing patents. "We haven't seen a broad proliferation of cellular technology in anything other than handsets because the model is closely held and restrictive," he said. A similar open patent strategy was devised in the video industry for video compression technology. That said, WiMax faces many challenges. For one, Sprint Nextel and Clearwire are the only major carriers building a WiMax network in the U.S. The nation's two largest cell phone operators, AT&T and Verizon Wireless, have already said they plan to use a competing technology known as LTE. Still, WiMax backers say that WiMax has at least a three-year time to market advantage since LTE hasn't even been standardized yet. Intel, which plans to include WiMax in its Centrino platform, says it expects to seed the market quickly. news.cnet.com