Google Joins LTE Patent Group

On Thursday, Google announced its joining the group of companies that own patents related to LTE technology. Thus, the company became a participant in the Via Licensing project, whose goal is the creation of so-called “patent pools,” Recode reports .

A pool of patents can be created by any group of patent holders that are relevant to certain technical standards. At the same time, companies that agree to make their own patented technologies part of the patent pool understand that they license their own intellectual property to a wide range of partners, offering their developments at a reasonable price. At the same time, combining patents into a single pool facilitates the interaction of patent holders with licensees, companies requesting the right to use certain technologies.

Although a patent holder may receive a smaller amount when licensing, joining a company to a group of companies that have created a pool of patents for standards like LTE, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth opens up the possibility for such a company to work with a wider range of partners.

Google became a member of the Via Licensing project just a week after the San Francisco lawsuit , the essence of which is Google’s accusation of refusing to cooperate with Microsoft in one of the technological areas where Microsoft requested the possibility of using one of Google’s technologies. Joining the LTE pool will allow Goole to protect itself from such claims in the future, although it will significantly limit the possible profit from licensing its technologies for other companies.

Brian Blasius, a spokesperson for the company’s patent department, said that Google hopes that the LTE patent pool will provide an original solution for the interaction of patent holders and licensees.

Via Licensing's pricing policy is open: as part of the initiative, every company that intends to use a patent pays between $ 2.1 and $ 3 per device released. Then, the profit is divided among all participants in the patent pool. Participants in the pool of LTE patents also include AT&T, Hewlett-Packard, KDDI, NTT Docomo, SK Telecom, Telecom Italia, Telefónica and ZTE. In 2013, the last companies to join the pool were China Mobile and Deutsche Telekom. Now Google has been added.