Avanci Vehicle

Avanci Vehicle has both 4G and 5G vehicle licensing programs. While there is substantial overlap of patent owners participating as licensors in the two programs, the licensors are not identical.

• 4G Vehicle: Launched in 2016, our most established licensing program offers automakers a long-term license to all 4G, 3G and 2G SEP claims owned by more than 55 patent holders (as well as any patent holders that join as licensors in the future) for the price of $20 per 4G connected vehicle, paid once for the lifetime of the vehicle. The program also offers eCall-only licenses at a price of $3 per vehicle where the vehicle implements the 4G standard solely for the purpose of emergency calling.
• 5G Vehicle: Launched in 2023, our latest licensing program offers automakers a long-term license to all 5G, 4G, 3G and 2G SEP claims of more than 65 patent holders, as well as any patent holders that join as licensors in the future. The license price is $32 per vehicle (or $29 per vehicle for early adopters who sign the license before their first sale of a 5G vehicle), paid once for the lifetime of the vehicle.

Both programs also offer eCall-only licenses at a price of $3 per vehicle where the vehicle implements the licensed patents solely for the purpose of emergency calling.

The Avanci 4G Vehicle license defines a “Licensed Product” as a Vehicle that incorporates at least 4G cellular functionality in one or more instances within the same Vehicle, is branded with a brand owned or licensed by the Licensee or any of its Affiliates and does not have the ability to communicate using 5G.

The Avanci 5G Vehicle license defines a “Licensed Product” as a Vehicle that incorporates at least 5G cellular functionality in one or more instances within the same Vehicle, is branded with a brand owned or licensed by the Licensee or any of its Affiliates and does not have the ability to communicate using 6G.

Avanci Vehicle licenses many types of connected vehicles, including passenger vehicles, buses, trucks, and agricultural, construction, and other types of industrial vehicles.

No. Avanci is authorized by licensors to offer a standard form license agreement to potential licensees. The products that can be licensed in this form agreement are limited to vehicles.

Although connectivity components are not licensed products, automakers’ suppliers of connectivity components are protected by the license. The release covers the licensee’s connectivity component suppliers, and the license grant includes “have made” rights that extend protection to the licensee’s connectivity component suppliers. Avanci Vehicle licensees may also elect to include a “supplier report and pay” clause in their license and then designate one or more suppliers to submit royalty reports and pay royalties for licensed products.

When creating the Avanci Vehicle programs, we talked individually with SEP owners, automakers, and suppliers of connectivity components about how best to structure our optional joint license. We concluded that offering licenses at the vehicle level would not only be most widely accepted, but would also be the most simple and efficient, particularly when vehicles may have more than one telematics control unit.

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

No, Avanci does not publish a list of licensed patents. We take a definitional approach to SEP licensing. The licensed patents include all essential 2G, 3G, and 4G patent claims (or all 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G patent claims in the case of our 5G Vehicle license) owned or licensable by the licensors at any time during the applicable term.

Avanci uses this broad approach to defining the patented technology covered by the license 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, keeping an up-to-date, comprehensive, and accurate list of all licensed patents would not be practical or efficient.
• The definitional approach allows the Avanci license to be as comprehensive as possible. It covers all standard essential patent claims whether they are listed or not. And the license is also “sticky,” meaning that any licensed patent included in the license remains licensed to a licensee during 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 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. 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. In this way, we ensure that each Avanci licensor owns at least one relevant SEP. 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. Given that there are potentially tens of thousands of cellular SEPs, it would be impractical and inefficient to evaluate a claim chart for every essential patent claim included in an Avanci license.

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 and ensures no conflicts of interest. Not all patent claims submitted to Avanci are found to be essential.

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 4G and 5G programs hold around 90% of the 4G and 5G SEPs worldwide.

When considering the price of an Avanci Vehicle 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 automaker agree on a set of license terms and conditions for a license under the patent holder’s patents for the automaker’s licensed products. The terms and conditions of the license are often reached after the patent holder and automaker have exchanged technical and business information, for example, patent lists, claim charts, and past and projected sales volumes.
• Avanci Vehicle license: An automaker agrees to a joint license under the vast majority of cellular SEPs worldwide covering the worldwide sales of connected vehicles by the automaker and its affiliates. The price of an Avanci Vehicle license does not vary by geography, size, or profitability of the licensee. We offer the same pricing to any automaker irrespective of where they are headquartered and without regard to an automaker’s sales volumes or profit margin. This transparent universal pricing is a key feature of Avanci Vehicle that creates a level playing field for all licensees.

To arrive at the terms and conditions of the Avanci 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 vehicle and – importantly – on the terms and conditions (including but not limited to the price) that are likely to attract a critical mass of licensors while still being widely acceptable for licensees. Avanci does not seek or collect information about royalty rates offered by the licensors in their bilateral licensing discussions with licensees. The price of an Avanci license is not calculated based on the total “stack” or “aggregate” that a licensee would pay in the event it was to license each licensor’s licensed patents individually.

The terms and conditions of the Avanci license vary by licensing program. This is to be expected as the programs were launched at different points in time and offer licenses that differ in terms of licensed patent scope, licensed product scope, and participating licensors.

Avanci waits to finalize the pricing for a new program until at least one potential licensee has concluded a license. Once the license is concluded, Avanci publishes the pricing agreed to by the initial licensors and first licensee(s) on its website.

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 Vehicle license. When we are instructed to do so by a licensor, we credit the licensee for the share of the royalties 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 connected vehicles. 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.

Avanci’s simple and transparent pricing means everyone pays a fair license price for the same product – rates are shown on our webpage for each individual licensing program.

An automaker selling a 5G connected vehicle pays once under the 5G Vehicle program for that vehicle and no payment is made for that vehicle under the 4G Vehicle program. An automaker selling 4G connected vehicles that do not use 5G would license its 4G vehicles under the Avanci 4G program.

Absolutely. Avanci shares a commitment with the IoT ecosystem to make the latest technology available in a way that is fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND). This well-established industry principle ensures that those using the technology in their IoT products have access at terms that are well-aligned with their needs, and those creating wireless technology receive a fair return on their investment.