ABI: Asian Companies Will Hold Significant Share of 4G IP Landscape

November 16, 2007 // Published as a news service by IHS

As a result, they have been subject to average royalty rates far in excess of those paid by their competitors, such as Nokia, Motorola and Sony Ericsson.

To avoid repeating their experiences in the 3G market, analysts said Asian vendors, including Samsung, Toshiba, Matsushita, Sony, NEC and Mitsubishi, along with Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT), have captured significant portions of the IP relevant to the fourth generation (4G) space.

"In terms of patent filing volume relating to core 4G technologies, eight of the top 15 companies are Asian vendors," said Stuart Carlaw, research director at ABI Research. "More important, Samsung and Matsushita are the most active by far."

Patent holding alone does not necessarily dictate a strong position. This must be coupled with an analysis of the involvement in standards bodies, as this allows companies to steer solutions toward their respective IP.

Analysts said the old guard of Nokia, Motorola, Ericsson and Qualcomm will be very influential in this space, alongside the likes of Samsung and LG.

The IP landscape for 4G technologies looks set to be far more diverse than that in the 3G domain. Analysts said this can have one of two effects. It will either foster a higher level of cross-licensing, or it will create a situation where more companies demanding royalties have no involvement in standards, nor any intention to manufacture equipment.

"One thing is for sure," said Carlaw. "The race to control 4G intellectual property will not be smooth sailing.”

Source: ABI Research.