Licence scheme for LTE agreed, but key suppliers absent

While those involved proudly announced they had agreed to only charge each other 'reasonable' licence fees for LTE patents, the accord was overshadowed by the absence of key players, such as Qualcomm and Interdigital.

The agreement, signed between Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, NEC, NextWave Wireless, Nokia, Nokia Siemens Networks and Sony Ericsson, will see any royalties for LTE total less than 10 per cent of the resale price for handsets and less than US$10 for laptops. However, it is up to the companies involved to decide how this (up to) 10 per cent is split between them.

Even with this new LTE framework--labeled FRAND (fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory), the history of such agreements is not good. Nokia and Qualcomm used to have a comprehensive patent relationship, before it broke down in a fit of litigation.

For more on this story:
- read The Register and Mobile Europe

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