Following 3Com Corp’s announcement last week that it would license its patented 56Kbps modem technology, which is likely to be part of the standard adopted by the International Telecommunications Union, Lucent Technologies Inc – in the rival 56Kbps camp with Rockwell Semiconductor Systems Inc – says it will also license its patented technology, should it become part of the industry standard. The ITU, which met last week (CI No 3,240), failed to reach any conclusions on the standard, so there is now unlikely to be any firm agreement before the Union’s next meeting in January. Lucent says it has three patents covering PCM pulse code modulation technology, with several others pending. Like 3Com, Lucent insists it is totally behind the creation of a common standard, which would enable any 56Kbps modem to talk to any other, but like 3Com it will hope to make money out of the parts of the standard that it owns. Lucent says it will negotiate licenses with other companies on a non-discriminatory basis and on reasonable terms and conditions. 3Com last week gave a price for licenses of its own technology, $100,000, or a royalty basis to a maximum of $150,000 (CI No 3,240). It also bought the rights to 56K pioneer Brent Townshend’s patents, which it thinks will be fundamental to the standard, and will license these as well.
