Consumer electronics major Sharp has renewed its global patent licensing agreement with Pendrell for access to ContentGuard’s digital rights management (DRM) patent portfolio.
Sharp originally entered into a five-year license agreement with ContentGuard in 2007 covering wireless handsets. The expanded agreement, entered into June 28, 2012, marks the first renewal of a prior patent license agreement for ContentGuard, and it is the second agreement entered into by the company this year that covers tablets. Specific terms of the agreement are not being disclosed.
ContentGuard is a developer of DRM technologies. ContentGuard’s DRM solutions enable consumer-friendly implementation of digital content distribution models such as content rental, content subscription, variable pricing, and secure peer-to-peer distribution.
“Sharp is a worldwide leader in technology innovation, and this renewal of Sharp’s license for handsets underscores the continuing importance of ContentGuard’s leading intellectual property portfolio, while the expansion of the license to cover tablets reflects the emergence of a new class of devices whose primary function is the delivery of content,” said Mario Obeidat, vice president of licensing for Pendrell.
“In the time since the original licensing agreement with Sharp and ContentGuard, there has been explosive growth across a wide range of connected devices that deliver DRM-enabled content. ContentGuard continues to develop and deliver cutting-edge solutions that are more relevant than ever in today’s consumer electronics environment,” Obeidat added.
