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27 March 2000
QED signs significant licensing agreements with key optical
fibre manufacturers
QED the Intellectual Property arm of technology development and licensing company,
Scipher Plc, announces that it has signed significant licensing agreements for
the use of optical fibre amplifiers - developed by BT and licensed by QED - with
a number of the world's key optical fibre cable manufacturers.
QED, which creates value by licensing IP to companies on a revenue sharing
basis, has signed three of the industries major players; Furukawa, Moritex and
Alcatel (together these companies account for approximately 20% of the world's
optical fibre market)
- The patents have up to 18 years to run and it is expected that significant
revenues will be generated during their lifetime.
- The BT patents cover the most common method for amplifying optical signals
in systems that provide the backbone for global telecommunications traffic.
- QED has again demonstrated the ability to create value through licensing customers'
patents.
- Discussions are taking place with further licensees for these patents.
Walter De'Ath, Manager of BT's Intellectual Property Department said: ''BT
has been a world leader in photonics research & development for many years, resulting
in patent portfolio of more than 4,000 patents world wide. BT is keen to obtain
royalties from the use of these patents by photonics manufacturers and is delighted
that its partnership with QED regarding BT's erbium doped fibre patents has been
so successful.''
Commenting on the licence agreements, Dr Kenneth Gray, Chairman of Scipher
said: "QED's methodology draws on technical, commercial and legal expertise, that
provides a unique skill set which enables us to commercially market patents and
IP for our customers. The successful licensing underlines the importance of the
work done by BT Laboratories in developing practical designs for this technology.
Discussions are well advanced with further suppliers within the telecommunications
industry''.
Background informations
The patents
Scipher has signed a number
of licensees for fibre optics patents developed by British Telecom. These cover
the most common method for amplifying optical signals in telecommunications systems.
Through Scipher's intellectual property management arm, QED, licensing agreements
have been signed with a number of key manufacturers including Furukawa (Japan),
Moritex (Japan), and Alcatel of France. With global sales of EURO 23billion, network
systems provider Alcatel is a leading optical cable supplier and also provides
a wide range of telecommunication components.
During the creation of BT's fibre optic technology, a number of patents were
filed and granted. The patents cover the most common method for amplifying optical
signals in telecommunications systems. Optical signals are passed through a length
of erbium-doped fibre, which is pumped by energy from diode lasers. The signals
are amplified as they pass along the fibre, without any need for conversion into
electrical signals. Erbium-doped fibre can amplify many different signals, carried
on separate light wavelengths, allowing exceptionally high data-rate performance.
BT's fibre amplifier patents cover the materials and the composition profile of
the optical fibre.
Alcatel
Alcatel builds next generation networks, delivering integrated end to end voice
and data communications solutions to established and new carriers, as well as
enterprises and consumers worldwide.
With sales of EURO23 billion in 1999 - 85% of its sales come from the fast
growing telecom and internet markets. It employs 116,000 worldwide and is a leader
in the evaluation of telecom technologies and services and operates in more than
130 countries.
The company is market leader in a number of areas including cables, marine
cables, total transport, Dialer Subscriber Line (DSL) and Dense Wave Division
Modulation (DWDM) - a high density method of fibre optic data transmission.
Furukawa
The Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. is one of the world's leading manufacturers
of electric wire and cable, nonferrous metals and other related products. It also
provides engineering services, including the installation of power and telecommunications
cables, and is a major manufacturer of optical-fiber cables. The Company is expanding
into superconducting materials, compound semiconductors, and nickel-titanium shape-memory
alloys.
Moritex
The Moritex Corporation is a global Japanese company with headquarters in Tokyo.
It is a diversified multi-national group specialising in fibre optics, optics
and imaging systems with operations in Japan, the USA and Europe. Its target markets
include industrial illumination and sensing, machine vision, cosmetic skin care
imaging, pharmaceutical research and artistic glass products.
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