GSA announces infrastructure to ease third-party IP licensing process for semicon industry

SAN JOSE, USA: GSA, the voice of the global semiconductor industry, has announced its plans to help third-party IP buyers and sellers reduce costs and shorten the IP negotiation cycle with a new IP Licensing Best Practices survey and report.

GSA’s IP Interest Group formed an IP Licensing Working Group after responding to the industry’s need for a deliverable that will ease the third-party IP buying and selling process. The group’s first deliverable is a survey for companies to use as an objective measure of actual industry license practices and incorporate these practices, as appropriate, into current licensing activity.

“We’re excited that the working group was able to come together to create an infrastructure that provides IP buyers and suppliers valuable information about industry IP licensing norms,” said Warren Savage, president and chief executive officer of IPextreme, and chairman of GSA’s IP Interest Group. “We expect the information obtained in this quarterly report to become a valuable resource to the semiconductor industry for years to come.”

The IP Licensing Best Practices report is an on-going reflection of actual terms and conditions implemented by peers that buy and sell third-party IP for integration into systems-on-chip and cover three main areas:

* Warranty
* Indemnification
* Total Liability Limitation

The survey is currently open for all 2Q 2010 IP contract negotiations. All survey results are confidential. Only participating companies will receive the aggregated and analyzed results.