Viewing that the development of LTE (Long Term Evolution) is approaching maturity for commercial application, Taiwan-based handset makers hope to see formation of LTE patent pools to make them ready for offering LTE products, according to industry sources in Taiwan.

As compared with GSM, CDMA and WCDMA, LTE is an integration of technologies developed by many companies including South Korea- and China-based ones, the sources indicated. Qualcomm is currently the largest LTE patent owner accounting for 10-15% of all LTE patents available, while other leading owners share 5-10%, the sources pointed out.

If there are no large enough patent pools, the diversity in LTE patent ownership is expected to make cross-licensing negotiations uneasy and even laborious, the sources indicated. The pressure of being charged with patent infringement will hinder makers' dedication to R&D of LTE products, the sources explained.

While it is impossible to pool all of LTE patents, Taiwan-based handset makers hope that two or three large pools can be formed to facilitate cross licensing and decrease licensing fee rates, the sources indicated.

So far, Sisvel, Via Licensing and MPEG LA LLC claim that they have integrated patents from 32, 14 and five companies respectively, but no real patent pool has been formed yet, the sources said.