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ITRI starts selling exclusive patent-licensing rights

The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) yesterday signed a multi-million-dollar contract with several local technology heavyweights for exclusive patent licensing.

The government-funded institute is transferring its technology patents via an open bidding process and the contract yesterday between ITRI and the four companies involved is worth between NT$200 million and NT$300 million, ITRI vice president Hsu Yeou-geng (許友耕) said at the signing ceremony.

"It is more important for us to package the technologies to create value than focusing merely on research and development. ITRI is currently expanding its focus to create more value to aid our researchers," institute president Johnsee Lee (李鍾熙) said.

ITRI, which currently owns around 8,000 effective patents, will therefore need to change its business model and selling exclusive licenses of patent portfolios will be one of the viable options, he said.

According to Lee, the institution is increasing its technology-transfer revenues at a stable 20 percent to 25 percent every year. Last year's revenues even increased 40 percent from a year earlier, he said.

At yesterday's ceremony, ITRI officially announced its sale of the exclusive licenses for organic light-emitting diodes, semiconductor chips, thin-film-transistor liquid-crystal display and graphics-related patent portfolios to AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美光電) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科技), respectively.

The licensing will ensure that the buyers hold the same patent rights as ITRI.

In addition to having the rights to sue for patent infringement, the firms are allowed to authorize the license to other partners to earn royalties.

This will encourage intellectual property-based research and development on the local front, and also stimulate the competitiveness of Taiwan's technology companies in the global arena, Lee said.

As research institutions in the US and Europe have been transferring their patents to domestic companies there via open auction for a long time, ITRI's move here will set an excellent precedent for others to follow, according to Sean Chen (陳世顯), director of the intellectual property division of Chi Mei Optoelectronics.

"We shall utilize these patents on our product lines to become as competitive as our global counterparts," he said.
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