Since 2016, Avanci has been transforming how patent licensing is done, through an efficient, independent marketplace which offers a convenient option to reduce transaction costs, enhance licensing efficiency, and reduce the burden of litigation for the auto industry and SEP holders.
The Avanci solution has been widely adopted with 42 automotive brands now licensed for their connected vehicles. Around half of all new cars sold now include cellular connectivity, which enables a broad range of infotainment and other services to enhance driver experience and safety, some of which are offered on a chargeable subscription basis by auto makers.
Avanci has also been extraordinarily successful in attracting licensors to join, we now have 49 patent owners on the platform, collectively licensing tens of thousands of 4G, 3G and 2G SEPs, covering the vast majority of essential patents for those standards.
To ensure that the marketplace can continue to flourish for both licensors and licensees, we are increasing the license rate for our 4G automotive program (includes 2G, 3G and eCall) to $20 per vehicle, paid once for the vehicle’s lifetime, for new licenses signed after August 31, 2022.
Our existing licenses are not affected by this increase, those licensees will continue to pay their existing rate of $15 per vehicle during the term of their licenses.
We believe that this increased rate still represents significant value to licensees, given the broad coverage of licensors’ existing and future patents.
We are communicating with potential automotive licensees to inform them of this change and offer the chance to sign an Avanci license before September 1, 2022 at the current rate of $15 per vehicle. As the Avanci agreement is a simple form license, we are confident that any auto maker who wishes to take an agreement before the rate increase will be able to do so.