One major factor that has had an impact upon the ability of Asian vendors to address 2G and 3G handset markets has been their lack of significant intellectual property (IP) portfolios. As a result they have been subject to average royalty rates far in excess of those paid by their competitors such as Nokia, Motorola, and Sony Ericsson. That is about to change with 4G, according to ABI Research.

To avoid repeating their experiences in the 3G market, Asian vendors such as Samsung, Toshiba, Matsushita, Sony, NEC, and Mitsubishi, along with NTT, have captured significant portions of the IP relevant to the 4G space.

ABI Research director Stuart Carlaw says, “In terms of patent filing volume relating to core 4G technologies, eight of the top 15 companies are Asian vendors. More important, Samsung, and Matsushita are the most active by far.”

It must also be recognized that patent holding alone does not necessarily dictate a strong position. This must be coupled with an analysis of the involvement in standards bodies, as this allows companies to steer solutions toward their respective IP. ABI Research has found that the old guard of Nokia, Motorola, Ericsson, and Qualcomm will be very influential in this space alongside the likes of Samsung and LG.

A new report from ABI Research has found that the IP landscape for 4G technologies looks set to be far more diverse than that in the 3G domain. This can have one of two effects. It will either foster a higher level of cross-licensing, or it will create a situation where more companies that are demanding royalties have no involvement in standards, nor any intention to manufacture equipment.

“One thing is for sure,” observes Carlaw. “The race to control 4G intellectual property will not be smooth sailing.”

About this study

The ABI Research study, “4G Intellectual Property and Royalties: An Analysis of LTE, WiMAX and UMB” provides in-depth analysis of the IP landscape for 4G technologies with particular focus on LTE, WiMAX and UMB, along with an analysis of the foundation technologies such as beamforming, fast power control, hybrid ARQ, MIMO, OFDM, OFDMA, SC-FDMA, and SDMA. The report includes an analysis of the potential royalty scenarios associated with 4G terminals.

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