RFID Consortium Welcomes Federal Signal as Ninth Member

ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Sisvel US and the RFID Consortium today announced that Federal Signal Corporation has joined the RFID Consortium and will participate in the Consortium's joint licensing program for patents essential to the UHF RFID standard as both a licensor and a portfolio licensee.  Federal Signal, which acquired RFID specialist Sirit Inc. last year, joins other patent owners 3M; ETRI; France Telecom; HP; LG Electronics; Motorola Solutions; Trimble Navigation Limited – ThingMagic Division; and Zebra Technologies to promote rapid adoption of UHF RFID technology by offering a single license to patents essential to the practice of the UHF RFID standards owned by the participating companies.  Sisvel is the administrator of the licensing program.

“The UHF RFID patent landscape is complex, with essential patents covering various aspects of the technology present in multiple countries and held by many different owners,” noted Jim O’Hagan, an RFID Consortium spokesperson and Director of Patents and Technology for Zebra Technologies.  “The RFID Consortium offers everyone manufacturing or selling UHF RFID tags or readers a single low-cost license under many essential patents from multiple leading global firms, and the Consortium recently extended discount royalty packages for early adopters until November 30, 2011.”

“As a leading UHF RFID manufacturer through its Sirit Inc. business and a global designer and manufacturer serving municipal, governmental, industrial and institutional customers, Federal Signal is a major addition to the Consortium. Its entry will enhance the value of the Consortium’s patent portfolio license for manufacturers and sellers of UHF RFID products,” O’Hagan explained.  “The portfolio’s value is evidenced by the fact that Consortium members active in the UHF RFID business — a list that includes 3M, Motorola, ThingMagic, Zebra, and now Federal Signal’s Sirit business — are also portfolio licensees.”

Participation in the UHF RFID licensing program and the RFID Consortium is open to all holders of patents essential to the UHF RFID standards.  Holders of patents interested in participating in the RFID Consortium and parties interested in obtaining a portfolio license under the joint licensing program are encouraged to contact Sisvel's representative Sean Corey at +1 703-820-0626 or by e-mail at [email protected].

About the Sisvel Group

Started in 1982 when Sisvel S.p.A. was founded in Italy, the Sisvel Group has become a world leader in managing intellectual property and maximizing the value of patent rights.  The Sisvel Group is global in scope and reach, with companies in Italy (Sisvel in None Torinese and Edico in Rome), the United States (Sisvel US and Audio MPEG in Metropolitan Washington, DC), China (Sisvel Hong Kong), Japan (Sisvel Japan in Tokyo), Germany (Sisvel Germany in Stuttgart), and Luxembourg (Sisvel International), and with more than ninety professionals worldwide with technical, legal, and licensing expertise.

Sisvel has a long history of managing successful patent portfolios including those related to the audio compression standards known as MP3 and MPEG Audio, and widespread technologies such as OSD (On Screen Display), ATSS (Automatic Tuning & Sorting System), and WSS (Wide Screen Signaling - for automatic switching of television image formats).  Most recently Sisvel has been appointed as the administrator of patent pools for the UHF-RFID, CDMA 2000, DVB-T, and DVB-T2 standards.

About the RFID Consortium

The RFID Consortium, LLC is a limited liability company which licenses patents essential to the practice of ultrahigh frequency radio frequency identification (UHF RFID) standards.  The RFID Consortium's goals are to promote rapid adoption of UHF RFID by facilitating easier access, by manufacturers and customers alike, to essential UHF RFID patents and to provide patent owners the opportunity to receive fair compensation for those patents, all at a reasonable cost to the end-user.  The current members of the RFID Consortium are: 3M Innovative Properties Company, a subsidiary of 3M Company (MMM); Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI); Federal Signal Corporation (FSS); France Telecom (FTE); Hewlett-Packard Company (HPQ); LG Electronics; Motorola, Inc. (MOT); Trimble Navigation Limited, ThingMagic Division; and Zebra Technologies Corporation (ZBRA).  The UHF RFID standards referred to above are the standards announced by EPCglobal Inc. and ISO/IEC including the EPCglobal Generation 1 (Class 0, Class 0+ and Class 1) and Generation 2 (Class 1), and the ISO/IEC 18000-Part 6c (including Amendment 1) parameters for air interface communications at 860 MHz to 960 MHz for radio frequency identification and the communications and interface protocols and conformance specifications referred to in those documents.

For additional information about Sisvel or the RFID Consortium, please visit www.sisvel.com; www.rfidlicensing.com; or email [email protected].

SOURCE Sisvel US, Inc.