Avanci IoT

Avanci IoT currently offers programs for Smart Meters and EV Chargers. While there is substantial overlap of patent owners participating as licensors in the two programs, the licensors are not identical. See the specific pages for each program for more details.

No. Avanci is authorized by licensors to offer a standard form license agreement to potential licensees, covering the final products sold to customers.

When creating the Avanci IoT programs, we talked individually with SEP owners, IoT device makers, and suppliers of connectivity components about how best to structure our optional joint license. We concluded that offering licenses at the final product level would not only be most widely accepted, but would also be the most simple and efficient.

We offer a single, global license at the final product level as an option to entering into individual licenses with licensors. Individual bilateral licensing is always an option, even after an IoT device maker takes an Avanci license.

We take a definitional approach to SEP licensing. The licensed patents include (by definition) all essential 2G, 3G, and 4G patent claims owned or licensable by the licensors at any time during the applicable term.

Avanci uses this approach to defining the patented technology covered by the license because it allows the Avanci license to be as comprehensive as possible. This is the case for several reasons:

• There are tens of thousands of cellular SEPs, and the patenting process and standards are very dynamic. Because new SEPs are regularly granted to Avanci licensors, because the standards develop and change, and because new SEP owners regularly join Avanci as licensors, any list of licensed patents would necessarily be incomplete.
• The Avanci license is “sticky,” meaning that any patent included in the license remains licensed to a licensee throughout the license term, even if it is sold, assigned, or otherwise transferred to a third party.
• New essential patents acquired by or issued to a licensor during the term of the license agreement are automatically covered by the license at no additional cost.

In our experience, licensees often obtain information about an individual licensor's essential patents directly from the licensor. Additionally, upon request by the licensee, Avanci will use commercially reasonable efforts to inform the licensee whether a specific patent claim is a licensed patent.

Yes. To be eligible to join Avanci programs as a licensor, a patent holder must submit a patent claim chart to Avanci. The patent holder is qualified to join if at least one patent claim is found to be essential to 2G, 3G, or 4G. If a patent owner's first patent claim is found not to be essential, it may submit another patent claim. In this way, we ensure that each Avanci licensor owns at least one relevant SEP. After an SEP holder becomes a licensor, it may submit additional claim charts to Avanci for evaluation as part of the royalty allocation system.

We work with a worldwide network of independent patent evaluators who evaluate the submitted claim charts for essentiality to a relevant standard. We closely monitor this process and maintain a quality control protocol to ensure consistency and objectivity across evaluators and jurisdictions.

Over time, we have sent thousands of claim charts to our worldwide network of independent patent evaluators for essentiality checking as part of our royalty allocation methodology. The royalty allocation methodology does not require, and we do not attempt, to have every possible SEP evaluated. But all SEPs are licensed, regardless of whether they have been evaluated.

The independent patent evaluators are both experts with respect to the related technologies and patent attorneys qualified in the jurisdiction relevant for the patent claim chart being analyzed. Avanci does not disclose the identity of patent evaluators to licensors or licensees and ensures no conflicts of interest.

Avanci has not undertaken its own SEP landscaping study. By reviewing various third-party studies that estimate SEP ownership, we think that the SEP holders participating in our IoT programs hold a large majority of the 3G and 4G SEPs worldwide.

Rates are shown on our webpage for each individual licensing program.

When considering the price of an Avanci license, it is important to consider how our license option differs from a bilateral license between a single SEP owner and one licensee.

• Bilateral license: A single patent holder and single device manufacturer agree on a set of license terms and conditions for a license under the patent holder's patents for the licensed products. The terms and conditions of the license are often reached after the patent holder and device manufacturer have exchanged technical and business information, for example, patent lists, claim charts, and past and projected sales volumes.
• Avanci IoT license: An IoT device maker agrees to a joint license under a large majority of 3G and 4G SEPs worldwide covering the worldwide sales of the applicable IoT devices by the licensee and its affiliates. The price of an Avanci IoT license does not vary by geography, size, or profitability of the licensee. We offer the same pricing to any device maker regardless of where they are headquartered and without regard to sales volumes or profit margins. This transparent universal pricing is a key feature of Avanci IoT that creates a level playing field for all licensees and provides each licensee with a highly predictable cost for future business planning.

To arrive at the terms and conditions of the Avanci IoT license, including the price, Avanci engages individually with potential licensors and potential licensees before the launch of a licensing program. We seek input on the value that the licensed essential technology will confer on a connected product and – importantly – on the terms and conditions (including but not limited to the price) that are likely to attract a large number of licensors and also be widely acceptable for licensees.

The terms and conditions of an Avanci license vary by licensing program. Please refer to the page for the applicable license program to see the royalty rates for that program.

Yes. We work with licensors and licensees to determine the existence of any separate license between a licensor and either a licensee or its supplier that overlaps with the Avanci IoT license. When we are instructed to do so by a licensor, we credit the licensee for the portion of the royalties paid by the licensee that would otherwise be distributed to the licensor if there were no separate overlapping agreement. Alternately, the licensor and licensee may agree to another means to resolve the overlapping license.

We welcome you to join us – and many industry-leading innovators – to make your patented wireless technology available to makers of IoT devices. Avanci connects patent owners and manufacturers in one marketplace, with one conversation – speeding up the process of securing technology rights for new products while ensuring you receive a fair return on your R&D investment.

Global cellular communication is driven by standardized technology. These standards make it possible for products to interwork and communicate with each other and the internet, regardless of their location or network.

Cellular standards are developed when technology experts at various companies share their new inventions with the entire industry in an open manner. To recoup their R&D investment in creating these inventions and fund continued R&D for the future, these companies often patent these innovations. This establishes ownership by the company that had the idea in the first place. The new ideas are considered by industry experts and the very best rise to the top, ultimately becoming part of a new standard.

When a patented technology becomes part of a standard, it's referred to as a standard-essential patent. A standard-essential patent is evaluated and granted by a national patent office just like any other patent. What makes it a standard-essential patent is that the invention covered by the patent must be used to implement part of the standard.

Yes. Avanci has extensive individual discussions with both patent owners and providers of standards-based products and services to discover terms that can be broadly accepted by a wide array of market participants, reflecting the value that the licensed technologies bring to the products and services in question. The acceptance of the optional Avanci license terms by both licensors and licensees ensures that the terms reflect a fair compromise, and since the same terms are offered to all potential licensees, they are non-discriminatory. This approach ensures that those using the technology in their licensable IoT products have access on simple and transparent terms, and those creating the licensed technologies receive a fair return on their investment.