About a month ago, Sisvel and the RFID Consortium announced the launch of their UHF RFID patent licensing program. This program offers developers and manufacturers of UHF RFID solutions access to critical intellectual property...in a single transaction and in an economical way. Companies that participate in their "early adopter" program (which ends March 30) can lock in very attractive rates for a five year period. The consortium states that "this limited-time discount can bring the royalty rate for UHF RFID label products as little as $0.80 per one thousand units, and for UHF RFID readers, the discount brings the royalty rate to as low as $5.00 per unit."
This is great news now that RFID adoption is on the rise. Low cost, non-complex licensing of core IP should promote innovation and facilitate adoption for both established and emerging RFID firms, as well as those that would like to add RFID functionality to other systems. Lower licensing costs could mean decreased list prices, broader adoption and scale, as well as the ability for more developers to enter the market.
For those of you unfamiliar with this consortium, it is a group of industry leaders that pool their patents as a means of providing a simple and economic way for UHF RFID developers to license essential patents. The consortium's portfolio is focused on EPCglobal and ISO/IEC UHF RFID standards and member companies include 3M, ETRI, France Telecom, HP, LG Electronics, Motorola, ThingMagic and Zebra Technologies.
For more information on the consortium, visit their website at: http://www.rfidlicensing.com/index.html
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