What is AMR-WB/G.722.2?
Who are the AMR-WB/G.722.2 licensors represented by VoiceAge Corporation?
Who needs to obtain a license to AMR-WB/G.722.2 patents?
Can a license be granted for cellular handsets and other end user devices using cellular technology applications?
What is a patent license agreement and what does it include?
How do I get a license?
If I'm using the AMR-WB/G.722.2 standard only for decoding signal, do I have to obtain the AMR-WB/G.722.2 license?
What's the effect on licensees when new patents are added to the AMR-WB/G.722.2 Patent Pool?
What is a licensed product?
What are the pricing categories?
Are there any up-front fees associated with
AMR-WB/G.722.2 patent license agreement and what is it for?
What is the minimum annual fee and how does it apply?
What is a channel?
Can we negotiate the prices?
What is AMR-WB/G.722.2?
The Adaptive Multi-Rate Wideband (AMR-WB) is the first wideband codec (~50 to 7000 Hz) to be standardized for both wireless (3GPP) and wireline (ITU-T Recommendation G.722.2) applications. It is the ideal codec for wideband speech applications across converging wireline/wireless networks. It utilizes the ACELP® (Algebraic Code Excited Linear Prediction) technology and this codec consists of nine bit rates from 6.6 to 23.85 kbps and includes VAD/DTX/CNG features for increased efficiency. It is also supported in the CableLabs® PacketCable™ 2.0 specification.
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Who are the AMR-WB/G.722.2 licensors represented by VoiceAge Corporation?
VoiceAge Corporation represents the following AMR-WB/G.722.2 licensors: Ericsson, France Telecom, Nokia and VoiceAge. These licensors have pooled their rights in a joint license agreement that presents many benefits in terms of:
- reducing duplicate costs and saving on administrative expenses;
- avoiding protracted negotiations on licensing terms and conditions with each patent owner;
- offering high-quality interoperable products;
- gaining competitive advantage by getting their products to market more quickly.
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Who needs to obtain a license to AMR-WB/G.722.2 patents?
Manufacturers or developers of complete (or virtually complete) encoder, decoder or encoder/decoder products for end-users (excluding cellular handsets and other end user devices using cellular technology) and for which the use of AMR-WB/G.722.2 without a license would necessarily and unavoidably infringe the licensed patents require an AMR-WB/G.722.2 license. (See below for licensing for cellular handsets and other end user devices using cellular technology.)
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Can a license be granted for cellular handsets and other
end user devices using cellular technology applications?
In order to obtain the rights to license AMR-WB/G.722.2 in cellular handsets and other end user devices using cellular technology applications, this can be licensed by the individual licensors. Please contact each of the licensors separately: Nokia, Ericsson, France Telecom and VoiceAge.
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What is a patent license agreement and what does it include?
The sole purpose of the AMR-WB/G.722.2 patent license agreement is to grant patent rights, that is, the right to use and/or distribute AMR-WB/G.722.2-compliant products. It is important to note that no software code is delivered, nor any technical help to implement the source code in the licensee’s products, nor other kinds of services.
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How do I get a license?
Please contact us via the following:
1. Click Request Info Now here
2. By email: licensing@voiceage.com
3. By telephone: +1.514.737.4940
4. By fax: +1.514.908.2037
5. By mail:
Licensing
VoiceAge Corporation
750 Lucerne, Suite 250
Montreal (Quebec) H3R 2H6
Canada
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If I'm using the AMR-WB/G.722.2 standard only for decoding signal,
do I have to obtain the AMR-WB/G.722.2 license?
Yes, the AMR-WB/G.722.2 license is required for either encoding or decoding voice/audio signals as well as for both.
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What's the effect on licensees when new patents are
added to the AMR-WB/G.722.2 Patent Pool?
There is no incremental cost to existing licenses when new patents and licensors are added during the current term of the license.
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What is a licensed product?
A licensed product is a product for which licensing fees have been paid to the patent owners and for which the licensee has obtained the intellectual property coverage under a patent licensing agreement. The product is then covered for its lifetime.
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What are the pricing categories?
Here is a summary of some of the categories:
Category 1 Standard Pricing per Realtime Channel : (standard pricing) applies to Licensed Products where Realtime Channels can be counted.
Category 2 Professional Content Applications: applies to infrastructure products which have no channel or session capability and the transcoding is always done “off-line”. For example, an off-line content transcoder and professional content creation tools typically fall under this category.
Category 3 Downloaded Applications – content applications: applies to a software application that cannot be used for telephony and which is separately sold or licensed to an Individual Consumer. This category typically includes consumer content creation tools and media players.
Category 4 Telecom and Multimedia Infrastructure: applies to products where Realtime Channels can be counted. This category is for wireless and non-wireless telecommunications and multimedia infrastructure.
For more details on the Categories and their respective pricing, please see Licensing Terms section.
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Are there any up-front fees associated with
AMR-WB/G.722.2 patent license agreement and what is it for?
Yes, there is an initial fee of US $6,500 due upon execution of the license. This is a one-time payment and is not an annual fee.
The initial fee is for administrative purposes only.
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What is the minimum annual fee and how does it apply?
There is an annual minimum royalty fee of US$10,000. If the royalty fees paid in any one year are less than US$10,000, then at the end of the year, the License Administrator will charge and require payment of the difference. No portion of the annual fee is charged retroactively nor can any portion be carried forward.
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What is a channel?
A channel refers to the capacity to handle a single point-to-point voice/audio data stream, be it unidirectional or bidirectional, on a continuous or sequential basis.
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Can we negotiate the prices?
No. When the patent owners made their patent declaration to the ITU-T/3GPP, they promised to grant access to their patents to all under fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms. Therefore, all licensees must be offered the same licensing terms and conditions, including pricing.
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