Telecommunication

Our large portfolio of technology patents

As a result of its long history of research, development, and contribution to the telecommunication field, Philips owns over 1000 patents spanning multiple jurisdictions and telecommunication technologies. The patents cover multiple key technologies for 3G, 3.5G, 4G, and 4.5G telecommunication.

Philips is making a license to these patents available on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms (FRAND).

Telecommunication

Our large portfolio of technology patents

As a result of its long history of research, development, and contribution to the telecommunication field, Philips owns over 1000 patents spanning multiple jurisdictions and telecommunication technologies. The patents cover multiple key technologies for 3G, 3.5G, 4G, and 4.5G telecommunication.

Philips is making a license to these patents available on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms (FRAND).

Access our telecommunication technologies

The technologies for which Philips patents are licensed in this program are:

1. UMTS (3G)
2. HSPA and HSPA+ (3.5G-4G)
3. LTE (4G)
4. LTE Advanced (4.5G)
Lists of individual patent rights relevant to these technologies are available in the Download Section. If you have questions about the license coverage, please contact us via the contact link.

UMTS (3G)
Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) is part of the third generation (3G) cellular radio system and is often referred to as WCDMA. UMTS is standardized via 3GPP (ETSI, ARIB, T1P1, TTA and others), and is compatible with the GSM core network.

Using the radio spectrum around 2 GHz, UMTS has three different air interfaces:
1. FDD (Frequency Division Duplex)
2. TDD (Time Division Duplex)
3. TDD low chip rate (TD-SCDMA, from CWTS)

HSPA and HSPA+ – High Speed Packet Access (3.5G-4G)
High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) refers to the High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and the High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) protocols.

High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) is an enhanced 3G mobile communications protocol which allows UMTS networks to have higher data speeds and capacity. HSDPA has been introduced with 3GPP Release 5.

High-Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) was developed to improve the uplink data rate and reduce latency relative to UMTS technology, which allows applications such as Voice over IP (VoIP) and the transmission of large email attachments and images through the cellular network. HSUPA was specified and standardized in 3GPP Release 6.
HSPA+, or evolved HSPA, is the subsequent development of HSPA technology which further increases data rates of cellular networks and introduced features such as multiple-input multiple-output communications (MIMO) to 3G networks. HSPA was introduced starting with 3GPP release 7 and was classified by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) as a 4G technology.

LTE – Long Term Evolution (4G LTE)
Long Term Evolution (LTE) is the next generation advancement in wireless communication for GSM and UMTS/HSPA networks which offers higher data rates and network capacity. LTE supports both frequency division duplexing (FDD) and time division duplexing (TDD) modes of operation which can support up to four times the data and voice capacity of an HSPA network, utilizing Orthogonal Frequency Domain Multiple Access (OFDMA) for downlink communications and single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) for uplink communications.

LTE was introduced starting with 3GPP release 8.

LTE Advanced (4.5G)LTE Advanced is the evolution of LTE technology to meet ITU requirements for 4G networks. One of the main functionalities of LTE-Advanced networks is higher capacity through the implementation of carrier aggregation (CA), multi-antenna techniques, and relay node (RN) support.

LTE Advanced was introduced starting with 3GPP release 10.

Royalties

Philips offers a license to its Telecommunication Technology Patents on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms (FRAND). The royalty rates are fixed fee and transparent to all potential licensees and are to be paid on a quarterly basis:

UMTS/HSPA/LTE/LTE Advanced Combined–
USD 1.00 Non-Compliance Rate / USD 0.75 Compliance Rate

Compliance Rates apply to all products which are property reported subject to the terms of the licensing agreement. Non-Compliance Rates apply only to those products which were not property reported. For further details regarding the application of these rates, please refer to the template licensing agreement in the Downloads Section.
These rates reflect Philips’ long standing contribution to development of this standardized technology and reflect the value that the technology adds to telecommunication devices.

Becoming a licensee

Respecting Intellectual Property Rights of others and offering licensed products to your customers is a meaningful way to secure business and growths and will strengthen the industry and your business for the long term.

If you identified that one of the technologies under Section 2 is used by your products, as a manufacturer or brand owner of Telecommunication Devices you will likely need a patent license from Philips for the legitimate use of our patented technologies. Philips IP specialists operate globally and can clarify the technical scope of the patents, present claim-charts and discuss business arrangements.

We recommend the following steps:

1. Get in touch with a licensing specialist
You'll receive a contact person who'll explain the Telecommunication Technology program in detail and answer to any questions you might have.

2. Portfolio analysis
Evaluate the relevance of the patent portfolio, based on our information and the knowledge of your products.

3. Conclude a license agreement
Identify which license agreement best fits your business needs. Where needed, we'll clarify and discuss the terms and conditions of the license agreement.