Taking assets off the secondary market and putting them into pools benefits the entire SEP ecosystem

The Sisvel Wi-Fi Multimode pool announced in January features several new patent owners that did not participate in the predecessor Wi-Fi 6 programme. One of these is Aegis 11 S.A., a Sisvel affiliate.

In addition to Wi-Fi Multimode, Sisvel acts as both pool administrator and patent owner in its 5G Multimode and Cellular IoT programmes, among others. Typically, when we acquire patents, the purpose is to support a particular pool.

In this case, we took ownership of a Wi-Fi 7-related patent portfolio we felt would strengthen our Wi-Fi Multimode licence offering, provide greater coverage to licensees and prevent further fragmentation of the Wi-Fi patent licensing market. We’d like to take this chance to explain when and why Sisvel pursues strategic transactions such as this.

Deep internal expertise

We are dealmakers first and foremost. Everything we do is about making it easier for technology users to access essential IP rights.

The experts who manage Sisvel’s licensing programmes across cellular, Wi-Fi, video and broadcast are fully immersed in their verticals. They know the tech specs, patent landscapes and product markets inside out. They have relationships with the decisionmakers in each part of the ecosystem.

Monitoring the secondary market for patents related to standardised technologies is part and parcel of this work. On occasion, a portfolio offered for sale presents a good way to strengthen one of our pools. The Sisvel team – comprising veteran dealmakers and the in-house experts of Sisvel Tech – is ideally placed to identify, vet and act upon these opportunities.

Reducing fragmentation

More and more actors are taking part in connectivity-related R&D and standards-setting. In an open process where the best technology wins, this is a positive development that should promote innovation. However, it also carries the risk of making the connectivity-related patent licensing landscape more fragmented and complex.

Patent pools are a vital part of the solution to this issue. By offering access to multiple portfolios through a single deal, pools reduce the overall transaction costs that would otherwise mount as SEP ownership expands to a wider and more diverse range of organisations.

Of course, not all patent owners choose to make their portfolios available through pool programmes; some opt to pursue bilateral deals or divest the assets. Sisvel generally acquires rights for the purpose of bolstering an existing or planned pool, so these deals support the consolidation of the patent landscape and increase the share of rights that can be licensed through a single, efficient transaction.

From declared to validated

When patents are taken off the market and committed to a Sisvel patent pool, they begin the journey from being declared SEPs to becoming validated SEPs. Patents licensed through Sisvel pools are subject to independent third-party essentiality evaluations. We only invest resources in portfolios that we are confident will meet this threshold.

Validated rights are included in our programmes’ patent brochures, which list the validated assets being licensed and explain how they read on the relevant standard. This information is integrated into public databases such as WIPO’s PATENTSCOPE tool and comprises one of the most important free resources for helping stakeholders on all sides to navigate the SEP landscape.

More patents made available under best-in-practice pools advances the shared aim of greater SEP transparency and thus the entire FRAND ecosystem. Each strategic acquisition by Sisvel furthers this goal.

Aligned incentives

Of course, Sisvel is a business too. We invest in assets that we believe are valuable to our licensees and can generate a return. As a patent owner in the pools we manage, we increase our stake in their success. Our incentives are aligned with those of the other patent owners in the pool – the programme will succeed only if implementers see real value in the combined portfolio offering and we are able to license a large share of the market with a minimum of friction and legal costs. If we do this well, we’ll all benefit together. And this will put us on a stronger footing to keep developing solutions that power innovation.