Royalties Not Driving LG’s A/322 Advocacy for ATSC 3.0 Rules, Company Says
“Lots of parties,” not just LG Electronics, contributed intellectual property to the A/322 document on ATSC 3.0 physical-layer protocol, John Taylor, LG senior vice president-public affairs, emailed us Wednesday, denying that IP royalties are what’s motivating his company to lobby…
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the FCC to include A/322 in 3.0 rules. He responded to Pearl TV comments recently at the FCC that arguments by the few parties that support mandating A/322 in the final rules “are not persuasive, in particular because some parties may stand to benefit from their intellectual property interests in A/322” (see 1706300003). “Multiple parties have IP in A/321, too,” said Taylor. “We expect to collect royalties for essential patents whether the FCC includes A/322 or not.” LG “of course” has pledged to adhere to the ATSC’s RAND policy,” he said of licensing LG patents on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms. LG and its Zenith “have a great relationship with Pearl and other broadcasters,” Taylor said. “This isn’t a big dispute, just a difference of opinion.” LG regards as “unfounded” Pearl’s argument that manufacturers would bypass A/321 if both that and the A/322 documents were mandated in the final rules, leaving devices orphaned, he said. The company disagrees with critics like Sinclair that argue that mandating A/322 in the final rules would thwart innovation (see 1707040001).