Dan McCurdy joins Sisvel; new patent licensing lab launched; Avanci names Wi-Fi 6 auto licensees; HMD takes phones off shelves after UPC injunction; plus much more
Welcome to the latest edition of the Sisvel Insights weekly round-up, aggregating news stories, analyses and data points affecting the SEP world that have caught our eye over the past seven days.
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Last week, during our annual conference held as part of Sisvel Connect, we announced our latest recruit: Dan McCurdy has joined us as Executive Director of the new Patent Licensing Innovation Laboratory – a forum that will explore ways to make patent dealmaking more efficient for licensees and licensors alike.
“I could not be more excited about joining Sisvel and to be working on this groundbreaking project,” said McCurdy. “I believe passionately in the importance of bringing all parts of the patent licensing market together to resolve issues that make transactions harder to do, and I think that Sisvel is uniquely placed to help with this task.”
“This is an incredibly proud moment for Sisvel,” added President and CEO Mattia Fogliacco. “I have sat across the table from Dan in several high-pressure negotiations and always greatly admired his skills, but I never imagined for one moment he might become a colleague.”
In a subsequent piece published on our website, Dan explained why he decided to join Sisvel and provided more information about the Lab and how it will work.
Elsewhere, Ford and General Motors became licensees of the Avanci Wi-Fi 6 auto programme; and HMD removed its smartphones from several European markets to comply with an injunction awarded to Fraunhofer by the Hamburg Local Division of the UPC.
Please note that the inclusion of a piece in the list below does not signify agreement with what is stated in the linked article – just that we believe it is of interest and worth flagging.
Market
Dan McCurdy has joined Sisvel to lead an initiative aimed at finding common ground between licensors and licensees. Read more (Sisvel Newsroom). See also IAM 🔒
Ford and General Motors have become licensees under the Avanci Wi-Fi 6 vehicle programme. Read more (ip fray)
VideoLabs has acquired over 300 patent assets related to networking infrastructure and cybersecurity from Ericsson. Read more (IAM)🔒
Legal
HMD has taken its smartphones off the market in key European jurisdictions after Fraunhofer secured a UPC injunction. Read more (ip fray)
InterDigital has brought a German damages claim for over €100 million against Disney. Read more (ip fray). See also JUVE
HFI Innovation, a MediaTek affiliate, has brought UPC litigation against Snap over a video codec patent. Read more (ip fray)🔒
IP Bridge has received a favourable report from a court-appointed expert in its Brazilian AVC SEP case against Skyworth. Read more (ip fray)🔒
Policy & Opinion
“The continuing friction surrounding patent licensing is neither inevitable nor beyond our ability to reduce,” argues Dan McCurdy. Read more (Sisvel Insights)
The companies that engage with 6G licensing now, while the standard is still being drafted, will shape the terms that the rest of the industry lives with for the next decade. Read more (IAM) 🔒
The EU is considering a new framework for technology standards against a background of mounting geopolitical rivalries. Read more (IAM) 🔒
According to the USPTO’s head of policy, the US will push for a greater voice within WIPO and advocate for a stronger focus on the enforcement of IP rights. Read more (MLex)🔒
ETSI will seek to preserve a strong role for Europe in key global standards while expanding its remit beyond telecoms, its director general has revealed. Read more (ip fray)
Strategy & Analysis
Modern video codecs – including VVC, HEVC, AV1 and VP9 – offer significant technical and commercial benefits to streaming providers. Read more (ip fray)
