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Avanci

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Avanci
Company typePrivate
IndustryPatent licensing
Founded2016; 8 years ago (2016)
FounderKasim Alfalahi
Headquarters
Dallas, Texas
Websiteavanci.com

Avanci is an operator of patent licensing platforms established in 2016 in the information and communications technology (ICT) space and more specifically in the Internet of things (IoT) and broadcast spaces.[1][2][3][4][5] By licensing patents from multiple holders under a single agreement, Avanci provides licenses to standardized technologies for manufacturers in the IoT and broadcast industries.[6][7][8] The company is based in Dallas, Texas, operating through offices in Dublin, Beijing, Tokyo, and Seoul.[9]

As of 2023, Avanci has 57 patent holders in its Avanci 4G Vehicle marketplace[10] licensing their portfolios of eCall, 2G, 3G, and 4G standard essential patents and 61 licensors[11] in its Avanci 5G Vehicle marketplace licensing their 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G standard essential patents.[1] The company has estimated that almost 80-85% of connected cars are under the Avanci license.[12] Patent holders on Avanci's platforms include Ericsson, InterDigital, Nokia, Qualcomm and Sharp.[13] The company also has over 80 auto brands under license across its platforms,[14] including Audi, BMW, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Porsche, Renault, Stellantis, Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo,[12][15] and its licenses cover over 130 million vehicles.[16]

In 2023, Avanci launched Avanci Aftermarket, a licensing program for vehicle aftermarket products, as well as Avanci Broadcast, a service focused on ATSC 3.0 broadcast technologies.[8]

History

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Avanci was founded in 2016 by Kasim Alfalahi, the former Chief Intellectual Property Officer at Ericsson.[17] Ericsson was one of the first patent holders to join the Avanci Vehicle marketplace, along with InterDigital, KPN, Qualcomm and ZTE.[13] Later in 2016, Sony joined as well.[7]

In 2017, BMW became the first automaker to sign a license agreement with Avanci, followed by Volvo, Audi, Porsche and Volkswagen.[17] By 2018, twenty patent holders had agreed to license their patents through the platform, including Conversant, NTT Docomo and Nokia.[18] In 2021, Daimler AG and Jaguar Land Rover joined the platform as licensees.[19] In 2022, General Motors and Ford entered licensing deals with Avanci while LG Electronics and Pantech joined the platform as licensors.[20] In September 2022, Honda, Nissan and Toyota signed licensing deals with Avanci, marking the first Japanese automakers to sign with the company.[21]

In July 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division reviewed the proposed platform and concluded that the platform was unlikely to harm competition due to its fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory (FRAND) rates and safeguards in place to protect competition.[22]

In August 2022, Avanci hired Marianne Frydenlund from Nordic Semiconductor to lead the creation of new licensing programs for other IoT sectors.[23] Hyundai and Kia also signed licensing deals later that month.[24]

In a 2023 article published in the Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, authors Dr. Manveen Singh and Dr. Vishwas H. Devaiah note that standard essential patent licensing in the automotive sector has progressed in large part due to widespread industry participation in the Avanci platform as a one-stop shop for such licenses. The authors also point out that Avanci's model has found favor with courts and regulatory bodies in the U.S. and Europe.[25]

In February 2023, Avanci began offering cellular patent licensing for connected products installed in vehicles after their original sale via the Avanci Aftermarket program. The platform launched with over 40 patent holders, including Ericsson, InterDigital, and Qualcomm, licensing technologies for use in products such as entertainment units, tracking devices in containers, information systems for public transport, and connected devices in road toll stations.[26]

In March 2023, Avanci launched Avanci Broadcast, a patent licensing platform for the ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard, which was developed by the Advanced Television Systems Committee and has been adopted for over-the-air TV broadcasts in the United States, Canada, Mexico, South Korea and Jamaica, among other countries. Avanci Broadcast launched with more than 70% of all ATSC 3.0 declared patent families on the platform from patent holders ETRI, LG Electronics, ONE Media, Panasonic, Samsung Electronics, Sharp and Sun Patent Trust, and includes device manufacturers that have shipped the vast majority of televisions using the ATSC 3.0 standard.[8] In August 2023, Avanci Broadcast signed its first licensees, Atlanta DTH and ZapperBox.[27]

In April 2023, Samsung joined the Avanci Vehicle 4G licensing program, the company’s first inclusion in a collective licensing platform.[28] In June 2023, Avanci won "Global Patent License Provider of the Year" at the 18th annual Managing IP Awards.[29]

In September 2023, Avanci launched its 5G program for connected vehicles, which through a single license provides access to patented technologies essential for 5G, 4G, 3G, and 2G connectivity. The patented technologies include those necessary for vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) connectivity, which enables vehicles to communicate with other smart-enabled vehicles and transportation infrastructure, as well as cyclists and pedestrians.[16] The program launched with 58 licensors. Mercedes-Benz was the first licensee, followed shortly by BMW.[11] Additionally, it was announced in September 2023 that Huawei had joined the Avanci 4G and 5G Vehicle programs.[30]

Leadership

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Kasim Alfalahi is the founder and CEO of Avanci. Prior to Avanci, Alfalahi was Ericsson’s Chief Intellectual Property Officer, where in 2015 patent licensing generated $1.7 billion in revenue.[31] After more than 20 years with Ericsson, he left the company to address concerns about unpredictability and uncertainty in licensing fees through the founding of Avanci.[17] In 2022, Alfalahi was named one of the "50 most influential people in IP" by intellectual property publication Managing IP due to Avanci's growth in the automotive patent licensing space.[32] In March 2023, Intellectual Asset Management ranked CEO Kasim Alfalahi number one on its Market Makers 2022 list, which recognizes influential leaders in the patent licensing space, due to the significant number of automakers that joined Avanci Vehicle in 2022.[33] Alfalahi is also a Board Member of St. Mark's School of Texas and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.[34][35]

References

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  1. ^ a b Kobayashi, Kazuto (12 September 2021). "Emergence of Intellectual Property Ecosystem of Connected Cars and its Analysis". Social Science Research Network. doi:10.2139/ssrn.3921931. S2CID 239129073. SSRN 3921931.
  2. ^ Gassmann, Oliver (2021). Connected Business: Create Value in a Networked Economy. Springer Nature. pp. 260–261. ISBN 978-3-030-76897-3.
  3. ^ Muscolo, Gabriella; Tavassi, Marina (17 January 2019). "§20.06". The Interplay Between Competition Law and Intellectual Property: An International Perspective. Kluwer Law International B.V. ISBN 978-90-411-8690-4.
  4. ^ Bharadwaj, Ashish; Devaiah, Vishwas H.; Gupta, Indranath (23 July 2018). Multi-dimensional Approaches Towards New Technology: Insights on Innovation, Patents and Competition. Springer. p. 65. ISBN 978-981-13-1232-8.
  5. ^ Kai, Jakobs (30 April 2019). Corporate Standardization Management and Innovation. IGI Global. p. 213. ISBN 978-1-5225-9010-1.
  6. ^ Greenbaum, Eli (2020). "A Million Unlicensed Pieces: Nondiscrimination Commitments in the Supply Chain" (PDF). L U. Ill. L. Rev. Online.
  7. ^ a b Shinneman, Shawn (September 6, 2016). "Ericsson, Qualcomm, Sony, others sign on with DFW licensing platform from former Ericsson CIPO". Dallas Business Journal. Retrieved September 6, 2022.
  8. ^ a b c Mountain, Rachel (March 7, 2023). "Avanci launches new platform for ATSC 3.0 broadcasting standard". Intellectual Asset Management. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
  9. ^ "Contact Us", Company Website, 1 September 2022.
  10. ^ King, Laura (20 September 2023). "BMW takes Avanci licence after patent pool launches 5G vehicle programme". Juve Patent. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  11. ^ a b Dux, Simon (September 19, 2023). "BMW Group joins Avanci 5G connected vehicle licensing scheme". Mobile Europe. Retrieved October 11, 2023.
  12. ^ a b Waldersee, Victoria; Mukherjee, Supantha. "Automakers tackle patent hurdle in quest for in-car tech". Reuters. Retrieved 2022-10-24.
  13. ^ a b Clark, Don (September 14, 2016). "Qualcomm Follows Ericsson's Lead in Joint Patent Licensing". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved September 6, 2022.
  14. ^ Wild, Joff (21 September 2022). "Avanci 2G-4G patent programme covers over 80% of connected auto market after deals surge". IAM. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
  15. ^ "Volkswagen reaches 4G patent deal that could resolve Acer dispute, sources say", Reuters, 9 March 2022.
  16. ^ a b Passett, Alex (August 29, 2023). "Avanci 5G Connected Vehicle Program Simplifies Next-Gen Technologies". IoT Evolution. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
  17. ^ a b c Bultman, Matthew (July 5, 2022). "Avanci Is Turning Automakers' Patent Licensing on Its Head". Bloomberg Law. Retrieved August 22, 2022.
  18. ^ "Nokia announces it is joining Avanci", IAM, 24 October 2018.
  19. ^ "Daimler Reaches Licensing Deal With Avanci Over 4G Tech", Law360, 22 December 2021.
  20. ^ Wild, Joff. "Ford takes Avanci license in wake of German injunction". IAM. Retrieved 2022-08-26.
  21. ^ "Toyota, Honda to pay connected-car patent fees to telecoms". Nikkei Asia. September 21, 2022. Retrieved October 12, 2022.
  22. ^ "Justice Department Issues Business Review Letter To Avanci For Proposed Licensing Platform To Advance 5G Technology For Interconnected Automobiles", United States Department of Justice, 28 July 2020.
  23. ^ Wild, Joff (1 August 2022). "Major Avanci hire signals serious push into new licensing areas". IAM. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
  24. ^ Houldsworth, Adam (25 August 2022). "Hyundai and Kia take Avanci licences ahead of September price hike". IAM. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
  25. ^ Singh, Manveen; Devaiah, Vishwas (31 January 2023). "SEP licensing in the automotive sector: shifting gears too quickly?". Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice. 18 (2): 122–134. doi:10.1093/jiplp/jpad003. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
  26. ^ Houldsworth, Adam (February 21, 2023). "Avanci launches Aftermarket programme as part of push into new areas". Intellectual Asset Management. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
  27. ^ Houldsworth, Adam (23 August 2023). "Avanci signs up first new Broadcast licensees". IAM. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  28. ^ Sandys, Amy (19 April 2023). "Samsung Electronics joins Avanci 4G vehicle licensing programme". Juve Patent. Retrieved 29 October 2023.
  29. ^ namelast, namefirst (22 June 2023). "Managing IP EMEA Awards 2023: the winners". ManagingIP. Retrieved 17 July 2023.
  30. ^ Sholli, Sam (August 17, 2023). "Avanci chief: Huawei joining 5G platform was a 'when, not if'". Managing Intellectual Property. Retrieved October 11, 2023.
  31. ^ Nordenstam, Sven; Swahnberg, Olof (20 December 2015). "Ericsson signs patent deal with Apple, shares soar". Reuters. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
  32. ^ "50 most influential people in IP 2022: MIP recognises Kasim Alfalahi at Avanci". Managing IP. 6 December 2022. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
  33. ^ "The Market Makers of 2022: top 20 revealed". Intellectual Asset Management. 15 March 2023. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
  34. ^ "Board of Trustees". St. Mark's School of Texas. Retrieved October 31, 2023.
  35. ^ "President's Advisory Board". UT Southwestern Medical Center. Retrieved October 31, 2023.
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