General Patent Secures 2 Licenses for DTL's Cellular Communications Patent

General Patent, a patent licensing and enforcement firm, announced on behalf of its client, Digital Technology Licensing (DTL), that it has licensed DTL's cellular communications patent to RSA No. 3 Limited Partnership (which does business as Golden State Cellular) of Jamestown, Calif., and Farmer's Mutual Telephone Company of Bellingham, Minn.

DTL owns U.S. Patent No. 5,051,799 (the '799 Patent) titled "Digital Output Transducer." The technology covered by the '799 Patent addresses Adaptive Multi-Rate (AMR) codec and other cellular communication standards, assuring backward compatibility of cell phone handsets and base stations. The '799 Patent also has applications in Bluetooth devices.

"We are very encouraged to have Golden State and Farmer's Mutual join the many regional cell phone service providers that are licensing the DTL patent," said Paul Lerner, General Patent's Sr. VP and General Counsel. "Licenses under the DTL patent are available at our standard royalty rate of 0.7 percent."

General Patent represents DTL in the licensing and enforcement of U.S. Patent No. 5,051,799. DTL brought patent infringement lawsuits against Verizon Wireless, Cingular Wireless (now known as AT&T Mobility), T-Mobile, Sprint and other companies. Equipment manufacturers Nokia, Ericsson, Sony-Ericsson, Samsung and LG Electronics have licensed the DTL Patent. Lawsuits are still pending against Verizon, Sprint and other companies.

Golden State Cellular agreed to license Digital Technology Licensing's patent at the standard royalty rate of 0.7 percent. No litigation was filed against California RSA No. 3, and the licensing agreement was reached amicably among the parties.

Farmer's Mutual Telephone Company was a third-party defendant in a patent infringement lawsuit filed against Kyocera. Farmer's Mutual decided to settle and license the DTL patent.

California RSA No. 3 and Farmer's Mutual become the 30th and 31st companies to which General Patent has licensed the DTL patent.

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