Context: Almost the entire automotive industry is licensed to Avanci’s 4G standard-essential patent (SEP) pool for the automotive industry, and Avanci 5G with its 62 licensors is making steady progress. With Mercedes, BMW and the Hyundia-KIA group, Avanci 5G concluded agreements last year.
What’s new: Today (February 13, 2024), Avanci announced a 5G license agreement with General Motors (GM) (Avanci press release). Just like all other Avanci 5G agreements, this one was concluded without any infringement actions by any of Avanci 5G’s 62 licensors.
Direct impact: GM adds multiple brands to the list of licensees (such as Chevrolet and Cadillac). More than a dozen automotive brands are now licensed to Avanci 5G. It is also the first U.S. car maker to sign up to Avanci 5G. When GM took an Avanci 4G license in the spring of 2022, it took the number of Avanci 4G-licensed vehicles above the 50-million mark and accelerated the adoption of the licensing program. That license deal happened without litigation, while another iconic U.S. car maker, Ford, refused to take a license until an injunction had been ordered by a German court.
Wider ramifications: The Avanci 5G-GM news happens to comes the day after a sponsored piece by the CTO of automotive supplier Continental that was published by Politico (today’s ip fray article on that sponsored guest article). While some try to overstate problems in order to urge legislative intervention, solutions are being worked out between SEP holders and implementers. Those supporting the proposed EU SEP Regulation try to mischaracterize pools as part of the problem, when they are and to an even greater extent could be part of the solution (February 10, 2024 ip fray article on how to address SMEs’ specific needs, including cost-efficiency, by means of pool licensing requirements).
There isn’t anything to add to the above summary, as the news speaks for itself.