Intellectual Property Rights

Agere Systems

By, Arindam Mallick [04]

Subhranil Saha [23]M.Ftech [Sem-II]

Intellectual Property

Human Intellectual Effort

Intellectual Property Rights

CopyrightPatentTrademarkDesign, etc.

WIPOWTOTRIPS

Copyrights:Right given to the creators. Lasts for 60 years from date of publish and 60 years following the death of the author.Rights are granted without any protection. Section 2 (o) defines “literary work” as computer programs, tables and compilations including computer databases.

Patent:

New/ Non-obvious technical solution to a problem.

Exclusive Right granted to an inventor for a limited period of time (20 years)

Section 6 – Apply patentsSection 7 – Form of Application

Trademark:

A trademark is a sign or a combination of signs, which distinguishes the goods or services of one enterprise from those of another. The owner has an exclusive right over it for ten years which is renewable every ten years for ten years

Design:

Layout designs of Integrated circuits, etc.

Foreign Direct Investment Inflows and IP protection in India

Year FDI Inflows(US$ million)

IPR Protection(Score 1-7)

r

1997 3557 3.35

-0.398

1998 2462 3.29

1999 2155 3.42

2000 2339 3.60

Note: r – coefficient of correlation Source: Introductory WTO Patent Laws Copyright Law Commercial Domain

No empirical basis for the assumption that stronger patent regime will improve Investment climate in the host country and encourage the inflow of FDI

_______ Our Product/ Service _____

Company

Merge/ Partner

Agere Systems Inc. was an integrated circuit components company based in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in the United States. Effective April 2, 2007, it was merged into LSI Corporation.

It is one of the leading global providers of semiconductors and softwaresolutions for storage, mobility and networking technology.

It is the first Company to Offer Multiple Sources of High-Performing, Low-Latency, DRAM Memory Chips for Network Processors.

Financial Report July 25, 2006

The following chart shows quarterly revenue, including revenue from thelicensing of intellectual property, by business segment:

Source: Agere systems Inc.

Segment(Consumer, &Networking)

June 302005$ in millions

March 312006$ in millions

June 302006$ in millions

Storage $135 $171 $146

Mobility $105 $95 $125

Networking $142 $131 $162

Total $382 $397 $433

Competitors

Companies which manufacture circuit components.

Strategy:

Major Competitors

Key Business Strategies of Each Competitor

Comparative SWOT Analysis

Comparative Financial Analysis

Competitor Matrix

IPR’s

Agere Systems is a registered company.Registered in many countries including India. Agere systems and Agere systems logo are trademarks of Agere systems Inc.

Agere systems use more than 700 patents for UMTS – Universal mobile telecommunications Systems

Agere systems Inc has filled many other patents, copyrights and Designs.

US Patent 7190972

First Wireless Devices

Device comprises a transceiver for receiving and transmitting signals utilizing a wireless air interface and communication protocol.

Device is capable of communicating with the first wireless device using the wireless air interface and communication protocol and wireless protocol.

Wireless Network

Figure describes how the wireless network works

Microsoft sued for alleged theft of IP (2003)

Microsoft was sued by Agere for theft of key technology used in Internet telephony.

Agere developed stereophonic acoustic echo cancellation technology – to improve the sound of telephone and teleconference communications over the Internet (I.e. VOIP).

Microsoft - Agere (breakthrough)

But undisclosed the development effort.

U.S. District Court judge in San Diego found that Microsoft infringed Agere’s technology for their MP3 patents, and handed $1.5 billion award.

Sony Paid Agere $18.5 Million for Patent Infringement on PSP (Mar 06)

Patent - 5670730

Technology - Protocol for labelling various types of data contained in a music chip.

Sony used this technology for selling various walkman models,Sony PlayStation Portable, and Sony Memory Stick Duo.

Other Lawsuits

Agere Systems Files Intellectual Property and Property Theft Lawsuits against Multiplex

National Semiconductor Settles LSI – Agere systems Infringement Suit

Piracy

Software privacy is theft.

Sophisticated hardware and software technologies used to prevent piracy.Eg: audio codec's, hi-fi instrument, and CD’s in encrypted forms.

Possible by only by big companies with all the latest technologies.

In 2002 Agere sued Atmel for infringement of three patents related to Tungsten processes, namely, US Patent Nos. 5102827, 5227335 and 6323126.

Agere also sued Atmel for infringement of US Patent No. 34269 which is related to integrated circuit packages.

In the jury Agere systems claims over 5102827, 5227335 and 6323126 found to be invalid. For the 342269 patent, the jury found that Atmel did not infringe the asserted Claims. Agere lost the cases and awarded no damages.

Conclusion

The IPR system made things to protect small companies and individuals from intellectual property theft by bigger players.