iProtectInnovation.com highlights Apple's long-term scheme to undermine and underpay innovators and devalue essential patents
Despite its innovative veneer, Apple has a long and ongoing record of exploiting inventors
Appellate hearing in the U.K. to commence February 25 seeking fair payouts
PanOptis, an intellectual property holding company for Optis Wireless Technology, Optis Cellular Technology, and Unwired Planet, today announced the launch of a campaign revealing the ways certain tech giants, specifically Apple, Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) have undermined and underpaid innovators, both large and small, on whose critical technology their smartphones-and bottom line-rely.
For smartphones, including Apple's iPhone, the most important development in the last 20 years was the rapid wireless network called LTE (Long-Term Evolution), the first truly global standard that could connect us all. LTE serves as the global standard for mobile functionality, and these types of common standards allow consumers using a smartphone from any OEM to share voice and data in a seamless and efficient manner.
Companies such as Qualcomm, Ericsson, Nokia, InterDigital, Samsung, LG, and Panasonic, among others, invest tens of billions of dollars annually in cellular-related R&D. As with any such effort, these companies protect their ideas by obtaining patents. At every juncture, Apple's approach to leveraging this intellectual property and innovative common standard reveals a distinct pattern: exploiting innovative technologies that support and enable its products and ecosystem, while putting in place policies which have the effect of devaluing said technologies all with the aim of maximizing its own profits.
Apple's strategy not only cripples cellular R&D by disincentivizing its outputs, but also distorts the overall tech landscape and, if left unaddressed, has the potential to significantly stagnate mobile technological progress in the long-term.
"At a moment of significant tech concentration, with ecosystems' omnipotence largely unchecked, it is crucial that the market and legal systems enable patent holders to recoup their high sunk costs and other investments and provide a reward for innovation that is appropriately aligned with their economic contributions," said Brian Blasius, President and CEO of PanOptis. "Large market players such as Apple must not be allowed to close the door behind them."
Blasius added, "Surviving without Apple's royalties for a long court fight is not feasible for patent holders making real contributions to cellular innovation. In the face of prolonged litigation on multiple fronts, even large companies with shareholders to answer to must settle at royalty amounts that are a mere fraction of the true worth of their patents. Apple's policies not only place great costs on other mobile manufacturers and innovators, but also disincentivize and reduce the number of opportunities for inventors and engineers to invest in cellular R&D."
When the rewards of innovation flow disproportionately toward a few tech gatekeepers, innovation, as an economic force, will ultimately be diminished. To learn more about Apple's ongoing tactics, we encourage you to visit iProtectInnovation.com and hold Apple accountable.
About PanOptis
PanOptis was formed in 2013 to license a certain set of patents that are essential to cellular standards (SEPs) from Ericsson, LG, and Panasonic and help them obtain the fair return they were due from mobile phone manufacturers for the usage of the valuable R&D that they contributed to the industry. Given the strength of its patent portfolio, which has been scrutinized and validated by the courts in the US, UK, Germany and China, PanOptis has largely been successful in licensing its patents to some of the largest smartphone manufacturers in the world including Samsung, Lenovo (Motorola), and Xiaomi, among many others.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250203504037/en/
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