The move pairs the IEEE, one of the giants in electronics standards with 950 published specifications and 400 in the works, with Via which manages eight patent pools including one for Wi-Fi. Together, the groups could help plow a path through a rising tide of patent activity that is generating new kinds of companies and services to address patent licensing and litigation issues.

"The whole patent landscape is a complex one," said Edward Rashba, director of new business ventures for the IEEE. "If you want to make a mobile phone there may be tens or more of bilateral agreements to sign," he added.

Patent pools have become increasingly popular in recent years to handle licensing in cases of relatively large numbers of patent holders and licensors. The pools can help lower transaction costs and reduce uncertainty and time spent negotiating deals, sometimes with competitors across barriers of language and geography. Technology holders in areas ranging from MPEG compression to WiMax have adopted the approach.

The move responds to input from some of the 132 members who have joined the IEEE as part of a corporate membership program started in 2003. "What we've been hearing [from them] is a desire to address needs beyond the publication of standards," said Rashba.

Corporate members have also called for product testing and certification programs similar to those of ad hoc organization such as the USB Implementers Group. The IEEE is studying how to address the requests for compliance testing.

The IEEE and Via want to lay the groundwork to set up patent pools soon after standards are issued. Participation will be voluntary, driven by efforts to educate members on the benefits of the approach.

"We have a list of new [IEEE] technologies that have quite a few patents that read on them," said Jason Johnson, vice president of marketing and business development at Via, a wholly owned subsidiary of Dolby Labs. "There's only a small number [of IEEE standards] that have a significant amount of [patents] that need a pool—we're probably talking well under a dozen," he added.

Via typically charges a transaction fee of about ten percent to cover its services, some of which might flow back to the IEEE to cover the costs of education programs. "We take a small percentage, not unlike American Express," said Johnson.

Via got its start when Dolby decided to set up a separate subsidiary to handle the licensing of the MPEG2/AAC audio codec that included patents from more than 12 companies.

Observers and potential participants generally welcomed the IEEE move.

"We see a win-win situation in this move to ease fast adoption of IEEE standards in the market," said Harald Roeggla, an intellectual property manager at NXP Semiconductors. "A patent pool as a one-stop shop is a smooth and non-controversial way of licensing patents."

"IP issues related to technology standards are complicated and have lead to a number of highly publicized disputes in recent years," said Mike Mclean, vice president of professional services at Semiconductor Insights, part of United Business Media which publishes EE Times. "It makes sense for the IEEE to outsource this activity as it is not core to its mandate and should help minimize one of the barriers to standards adoption," he added.

It "appears to be yet another innovative pooling of intellectual property, joining the likes of Intellectual Ventures, RPX Corp. and Allied Security Trust," said Rich Belgard, a Silicon Valley patent consultant. Although details of the program are still sketchy, the IEEE's presence is significant and means "existing and potential patentees and licensees had better take notice," he said.

By: DocMemory
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