The next steps for Sisvel POS after a whirlwind start

Patent owners have flocked to our new point-of-sale programme since its April launch and over 50% of cellular SEP families are already available via a pool licence

By Sven Torringer

The pool formation process for Sivel POS, our new point-of-sale licensing programme, has had a fantastic start. After launching publicly in early April with Huawei, LG Electronics and Nokia as founding licensors, we have welcomed dozens of additional patent owners as early joiners.

With membership currently standing at 44 licensors, the POS programme is the largest Sisvel has ever operated both in terms of licensor and patent count. More importantly, a pool licence already offers coverage for over 50% of the cellular SEP landscape.

It has been a remarkable four months filled with productive engagements with a wide range of patent holders. As this project nears the starting line, we have updates to share on where the pool stands and what’s coming next. But first, it’s worth looking back on the programme’s origins.

Why we embarked on this project

Cellular technology has transformed retail commerce, not only enabling frictionless payments anywhere with a mobile signal but also giving merchants advanced capabilities around inventory management and business analytics.

The proliferation of cellular-connected POS devices has brought the companies that sell payment terminals into an industry where standards and patent licensing play key roles in ensuring interoperability and pushing technology forward. We are already starting to see this interaction play out in the form of bilateral licence deals and, in some cases, litigation.

What the cellular space lacks is a one-stop licensing solution that would allow POS sellers to access a large share – even a majority – of the relevant patent rights in a single transaction on the same terms as their competitors.

We felt strongly that Sisvel could create such an offering based on our track record of success and innovation in areas spanning Wi-Fi, cellular and IoT. But getting a sufficient quantity and quality of patent portfolios on board would be critical.

Incredible market response

The interest in the pool from patent owners has exceeded even our own expectations. What began with just three licensors has snowballed into the largest pool Sisvel has ever overseen, with membership now standing at 44 licensors.

The speed and scale of this uptake underscore patent owners’ recognition that a collective approach is the best way forward in this vertical. The response has validated our belief that the POS sector was ripe for a pool and provides momentum for the programme as we bring it to the market.

More than 50% of cellular SEP families covered

In a market like cellular with highly fragmented patent ownership, the number of licensors is an important metric in determining the efficiencies a pool can unlock. But the share of the SEP stack is also a key consideration for implementers.

We are pleased to share that based on an analysis of combined 2G/3G/4G/5G declarations conducted by LexisNexis Intellectual Property Solutions, the 44 Sisvel POS licensors collectively account for more than 50% of the patent families within the licence scope. Our founding members Huawei, LG Electronics and Nokia contributed substantial, market-leading portfolios, and the dozens of companies that followed have pushed total coverage beyond the 50% threshold, including 6 of the 10 largest portfolios.

For POS device sellers, this means that a single Sisvel POS licence will address the majority of their cellular patent exposure while removing the need to negotiate dozens of bilateral licences.

Next steps in rolling out the pool

With the formation phase now ending, our focus is shifting towards bringing the offer to the market. For a Sisvel patent pool, that involves a number of important best practices.

Now that we have a good idea of the range of patent owners participating as licensors, we are working to develop balanced royalty rates that reflect the value of the underlying innovations, the pool’s coverage of the overall cellular stack and the transactional efficiencies generated from consolidating 44 portfolios in a single licence offer.

In the coming months, we will be rolling out comprehensive information about the pool terms and conditions, including those royalty rates. This will enable the POS industry to evaluate the pool offer from a commercial point of view.

At the same time, we have asked all our participating licensors to submit patents for third party essentiality evaluation. This is a critical step in the pool formation process and requires a significant investment of time and resources. The result is a patent list that gives prospective licensees confidence in the offering from a technical perspective.

Our message to POS device sellers

We are already engaging with a number of leading POS device manufacturers, and as the pool gets off the ground we will soon be in a position to formally offer licences on FRAND terms.

The message we are sharing is this: the Sisvel POS programme offers an efficient route to securing the patent rights you need. The emergence of a comprehensive pool licence is great news for this industry. It will provide commercial clarity, legal confidence and predictable costs. We encourage all participants in the POS ecosystem to get in touch – let’s build a licensing environment that powers further innovation in connected payments.

Sven Torringer is the Sisvel POS programme manager