Via Licensing has issued a patent call for a new WLAN standard that is able to support streaming high-definition video.
The firm is only accepting essential patents that fall under the new IEEE 802.11n standard, which has not yet been ratified by the IEEE.
Via Licensing is moving aggressively to corner the market for 4G patent pools. The firm became one of three separate firms trying to become LTE patent pool administrators in May, when it issued a call for patents alongside similar requests from MPEG LA and Sisvel.
Since then, none of the three potential administrators has given an update as to how many essential patent holders they have landed.
An influential industry association, the Next Generation Mobile Alliance (NGMA) may soon throw its weight behind one of the three firms. The NGMN recently issued a request for information for LTE patent pool administrators in a potential move to consolidate the three separate efforts.
Via’s competitive advantage over MPEG LA and Sisvel lies in its experience as a patent pool administrator for WiMAX, which is technologically similar to LTE. The firm is currently the administrator for the WiMAX patent pool effort hosted by the Open Patent Alliance.
Filed Under: Industry regulations