Sisvel Gains Momentum for Creating the LTE/SAE Patent Pool with Expansive Group of Patent Holders

Participation will Continue to Grow before Next Meeting in April 2010

STUTTGART, Germany, Feb. 12 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Following Sisvel's LTE/SAE facilitation meeting last week in Frankfurt, Sisvel announced today that the participating holders of essential LTE/SAE patents are making significant progress toward establishing the framework for a broad-based patent pool, and invited all others interested in contributing to this process to join before the group's next meeting in Hong Kong on April 21-22.

The Frankfurt meeting, which brought together the largest and most diverse group of stakeholders interested in forming an LTE/SAE patent pool to date, gave participants an opportunity to exchange ideas about the best ways to structure a pool to foster further participation and maximize the pool's benefits for the overall LTE ecosystem. "At this first meeting, Sisvel outlined a number of creative proposals that it had developed following discussions with many key players in LTE," indicated Giustino de Sanctis, Managing Director of Sisvel Germany, "and we are now refining those proposals further based on the feedback from this diverse group."

Sisvel's LTE/SAE facilitation process now includes 23 participants covering the full spectrum of the telecommunications and electronics industries from 11 countries and three different continents. Participants include major device makers, network operators, chip and consumer electronics manufacturers, and research institutes. "There is a widespread understanding that the IP landscape in LTE/SAE is different from previous generations of telecommunications standards," Mr. de Sanctis noted, "and Sisvel is uniquely well-positioned to create a successful LTE/SAE pool."

"Sisvel is the only truly independent major licensing administrator, and will devote its worldwide licensing team and in-house technical staff to the success of the LTE/SAE patent pool," Mr. de Sanctis explained. "Especially at this early stage with different technologies competing, having an administrator that can fully commit to promoting LTE from both a licensing and commercial perspective will benefit all LTE users and could be critical for the success of the LTE technology."

Sisvel encourages all stakeholders to be part of this dynamic group and join the discussions on forming the best possible LTE/SAE patent pool. Detailed information on patent submission, as well as other procedures for participating in the facilitation process, can be obtained from Sisvel by sending an email to the following address: LTE@sisvel.com.

About LTE/SAE

LTE (Long Term Evolution) is the evolution of 3GPP standards for land mobile communications. It will provide higher transmission rates and enhanced user experience, primarily with high speed data services. SAE (System Architecture Evolution) is the enhancement of Packet Switched technology to cope with rapid growth in IP traffic. LTE/SAE form the basis of 3GPP Release 8 specification set.

About Sisvel

Started in 1982 when Sisvel S.p.A. was founded in Italy, the Sisvel Group has become a world leader in managing intellectual property and maximizing the value of patent rights. The Sisvel Group is global in scope and reach, with companies in Italy (Sisvel and Sisvel Technology in None Torinese, and Edico in Rome), the United States (Sisvel US and Audio MPEG in Metropolitan Washington, DC), China (Sisvel Hong Kong), Japan (Sisvel Japan in Tokyo), and Germany (Sisvel Germany in Stuttgart), and with over eighty professionals worldwide with technical, legal, and licensing expertise.

Sisvel has a long history of managing successful patent portfolios including those related to the audio compression standards known as MP3 and MPEG Audio. In addition to managing a portfolio of patents relating to the DECT standard for portable digital telephones, Sisvel administers patent pools for the CDMA2000 family of cellular telecommunications standards, the UHF-RFID air interface standard, and the DVB-T broadcast standard, and is currently facilitating the creation of LTE, DVB-H, and DVB-T2 patent pools. Through its subsidiary Sisvel Technology, Sisvel is also engaged in the development of new technologies, including projects for 3D television and broadcasting.

For additional information regarding Sisvel, please visit http://www.sisvel.com .