
US IT firms announce WiMAX patent alliance
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Reuters
WASHINGTON -- Six leading tech firms have formed a patent alliance in order to encourage expansion of WiMAX, an emerging high-speed wireless technology, the companies said in a statement.
Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, Clearwire, Intel, Samsung Electronics and Sprint hope that the creation of a patent pool will help companies designing for WiMAX get access to licenses to patented technology at a predictable cost, the companies said.
"It's about openness (and) predictability of the business model," said Scott Richardson, an executive with Clearwire, in a statement to reporters.
The companies said in a statement that the alliance, called Open Patent Alliance, was "to help ensure product differentiation and interoperability at a more predictable cost."
"This approach will focus on providing a more competitive royalty structure by charging only for the features required to develop WiMAX products," they added.
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