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8 September 2000
QED signs Philips for multimedia tuner patents
QED the intellectual property (IP) licensing arm of technology development
and licensing company, Scipher
Plc, today announces that it has granted a licence to Philips Electronics
for the use of multimedia tuner patents owned by Imagination Technologies. The
patents cover technology used by manufacturers of PC/TV tuner cards.
- Through this licence agreement, PC manufacturers who use Philips multimedia
tuner products will have the use of the patented technology that enables TV to
be watched on a PC.
- The agreement with Philips follows on from similar successful licensing of
the same patents last year to Temic Telefunken GmbH.
- Together these companies and their customers represent over two-thirds of
the world market for PC/TV tuner technology - delivering royalty streams for Imagination
Technologies and Scipher over several years.
QED, was appointed in 1999 to exploit Imagination Technologies' PC/TV patents.
This relationship has since been extended with QED appointed to manage the licensing
of global patents covering multimedia architectures relevant to PCs, set-top-boxes,
game consoles and other multimedia systems. In addition to licensing the patents
to companies who are already using these technologies, QED will also be granting
licenses to companies who wish to incorporate them into new developments.
Dr Ken Gray, Chairman of Scipher said: '' We are extremely pleased to have
again successfully licensed Imagination's PC-TV tuner patents - this time to Philips.
We are delighted with the partnership we have with Imagination Technologies and
look forward to further successes with the intellectual property that we are licensing
on their behalf.''
Hossein Yassaie, CEO of Imagination Technologies commented: "Scipher's progress
with the licensing of our PC/TV tuner patents has encouraged a growth of the partnership
between the two companies. We have created a rich patent portfolio through innovation
and it is a part of our strategy to licence our intellectual property. It is our
intention to continue to exploit, at the appropriate time, our patents as a further
source of revenue for Imagination Technologies."
Background information
About the patents
TV tuner cards are commonly available from retail computer stores and, once
installed, allow the user to watch TV on their PC whilst simultaneously using
other PC applications. These 'add-on' cards retail at between $100-$200 (US).
The market in the United States alone is currently worth in excess of $200m. PCs
are also increasingly being sold with TV tuner cards pre-installed. The tuner
patents are of specific relevance to manufacturers of PC/TV tuner cards and PC
systems incorporating TV connection and tuning capability.
Imagination Technologies' multimedia patents, the latest of which was granted
at the end of 1999, cover the integration of video and graphics data within a
computing system, including the storage and processing of those signals. As such
they are particularly relevant to many products in which video and graphics signals
are jointly processed and displayed, including multimedia PC's, set-top-boxes
and games consoles.
About Imagination Technologies
Imagination Technologies Group plc is an international company that develops,
licenses and supplies market-leading 2D/3D graphics, digital video, audio and
speech technologies and products for PCs and home entertainment, games consoles,
arcade entertainment machines, mobile devices and digital set-top boxes. Since
it was founded in 1985, the company has introduced, via licensing arrangements
or directly, a succession of innovative technologies, silicon chips and add-in
boards, which have played a major role in the development of multimedia and computer-based
entertainment systems. Imagination Technologies Group plc has its corporate headquarters
in the United Kingdom and is publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange (FTSE:IMG).
More information is available on the Imagination Technologies web site at www.imgtec.com
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