US Robotics Inc, the super-highly-rated modem manufacturer headquartered in Skokie, Illinois has signed a bilateral licensing agreement with AT&T Co that involves the use of patents for high-speed modem data communications. The specific terms of the deal were not disclosed, but broadly the companies have agreed to an exchange of patents and cash payment for current patents, as well as bilateral licence rights for patents covering the implementation of the V.34 (nee V.Fast) modem standard, now in the final stages of development by the International Telecommunications Union. In addition to this, US Robotics has also agreed to pay a licensing fee to AT&T on product sales beginning in the sixth year of the agreement. The AT&T licence granted to US Robotics covers technologies for implementing existing international transmission standards for modem data communications over the public switched analogue telephone network; US Robotics says that it has granted AT&T a licence to all its patents covering data and facsimile modems.
