LONDON — Six of the major players in the mobile WiMAX sector have formed a patent alliance to encourage expansion and speedy uptake of the technology.

Alcatel-Lucent, Intel, Cisco, Clearwire, Samsung Electronics and Sprint hope that the creation of a patent pool will help companies designing for WiMAX get access to licenses to patented technology at a predictable cost, the companies said.

The companies say the Open Patent Alliance (OPA) "will advance a competitive and open intellectual property rights model, thus stimulating a larger WiMAX industry that supports innovation through broader choice and lower equipment and service costs for WiMAX technology, devices and applications globally."

The OPA will form a WiMAX patent pool to help participating companies obtain access to patent licenses from patent owners at a predictable cost.

To help ensure product differentiation and interoperability at a more predictable cost, this approach will focus on providing a more competitive royalty structure by charging only for the features required to develop WiMAX products. The patent pool will incorporate a variety of royalty licensing solutions, including accounting for cross-licensing among individual members within the pool.

The alliance will also issue a call for WiMAX essential patents for inclusion in its patent pool. An independent third-party reviewer will serve as the "patent referee" and will evaluate submitted patents to determine how essential they are to the WiMAX standard and WiMAX Forum profiles.

The six companies say a further six to nine groups are expected to join the effort and give the OPA broad geographic and technological muscle.

Sriram Viswanathan, vice president, Intel Capital and general manager, Intel WiMAX program office, commented: "By facilitating an open intellectual property rights model, we expect the alliance to in turn create a more competitive, innovative and broader WiMAX industry that ultimately benefits the consumer with more choice for WiMAX technology and services."

"We expect to unleash wireless innovation with this patent alliance," added Barry West, president of Sprint’s XOHM business unit. "The open licensing program will help prompt pervasive WiMAX technology."

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