Via Joins the Initiative in Support of SEP Data Transparency

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (June 25, 2026) – Via Licensing Alliance (Via) today announced that it is partnering with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on its initiative to feature standard essential patent (SEP) data in its global PATENTSCOPE database. As one of the first collaborative licensing organizations to contribute patent pool-verified SEP data to the initiative, Via is supporting greater transparency in the SEP ecosystem by making available data from a substantial number of SEPs associated with its licensing programs for inclusion in PATENTSCOPE.PATENTSCOPE is a database that promotes transparency around patent information globally by allowing users to find information on international patent applications, as well as patents and published patent applications in over 80 countries, accurately translating them into 18 languages using artificial intelligence.

“One of the major value-adds of patent pools to the licensing ecosystem is to provide transparency around the pricing of patent rights,” said Kevin Mack, President of Via Licensing Alliance. “WIPO’s efforts to create greater transparency for the IP licensing ecosystem through PATENTSCOPE are fully aligned with Via’s mission, so joining this important effort was an easy decision.”

“The success of WIPO’s SEP-related initiatives relies on the partnerships we build with key stakeholders. In this complex area, collaboration is central to achieving meaningful progress,” said Andras Jokuti, Director of WIPO’s Patent and Technology Law Division. “Via’s participation in this project is a welcome contribution to the SEP search feature of PATENTSCOPE.”

PATENTSCOPE has built on the “Declared SEPs” feature launched in 2025, which enables users to identify patents declared essential to standards developed by selected standard-setting organizations. The PATENTSCOPE database has now advanced further by incorporating data on patents, the essentiality of which was verified through the patent pool administrator’s mechanisms directly, alongside the patent records within the database.

By embedding such pool-verified essentiality information into PATENTSCOPE, WIPO is responding to increasing calls for enhanced transparency in the SEP landscape, particularly at a time when standards and complex technologies are evolving at a rapid pace.

Via’s licensing programs depend on independent third-party experts to evaluate patent essentiality, and the inclusion of this data in PATENTSCOPE greatly enhances its accessibility and practical value for stakeholders around the world.

Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) form the foundation of many of today’s most widely used technologies, including audio and video streaming, wireless charging, and semiconductors. As technological ecosystems grow more sophisticated, the need for transparent, dependable, and easily accessible SEP-related information is becoming ever more important for policymakers, patent authorities, innovators, and technology implementers alike.

About Via Licensing Alliance

Via Licensing Alliance is the collaborative licensing leader, dedicated to accelerating global technology adoption, fostering participation, and generating return on innovation with balanced licensing solutions for innovators and manufacturers of all sizes around the globe. Via has operated dozens of licensing programs for a variety of technologies. Via is an independently managed company owned by industry-leading participants with over 25 years of intellectual property licensing leadership. For more information about Via, please visit www.Via-LA.com.

About WIPO

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is the United Nations agency that serves the world’s innovators and creators, ensuring that their ideas travel safely to the market and improve lives everywhere.

It does so by providing services that enable creators, innovators and entrepreneurs to protect and promote their intellectual property (IP) across borders and acting as a forum for addressing cutting-edge IP issues. The IP data provided by WIPO guide decision-makers all over the world, while impact-driven projects and technical assistance ensure that IP benefits everyone, everywhere.

For more information, please contact the News and Media Division at WIPO:

• Tel: (+41 22) 338 81 61 / 338 72 24
• E-mail

Contact:
Via Licensing Alliance
Raleigh Hogan-Miller
Press@Via-LA.com

Contact:
WIPO
Sandrine Ammann
sandrine.ammann@wipo.int

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SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (June 15, 2026) – Via Licensing Alliance (Via) today announced that it has hired Patrick Zhang as the company’s new Vice President of Licensing and Commercial Strategy. This newly created role at Via further bolsters the senior team, adding over two decades of expertise in IP litigation and licensing to the organization. In his new role, Zhang will bridge the licensing and new programs functions at Via, with a focus on expanding the company’s strategic partnerships accelerating its licensing deal flow. He will also contribute to new program growth and strategy.

“Via has always placed a strong emphasis on hiring top talent with extensive experience and relationships in the IP space,” said Kevin Mack, President of Via. “Patrick’s background, energy and expertise are an ideal fit as we continue to grow our senior team and build our momentum. We look forward to working with Patrick and leveraging his ability to consistently generate value for licensors and licensees.”

Zhang brings more than 20 years of experience spanning technology licensing, intellectual property strategy, litigation, and commercial negotiations. He has held IP litigation roles at leading global law firms such as Morrison & Foerster and Ropes & Gray, and he has also served as senior in-house counsel, overseeing IP licensing, strategy and enforcement for IP innovators and technology companies including Atlassian, Technicolor and TiVo.

 Among his notable accomplishments, Zhang served on the courtroom trial team for the landmark Apple v. Samsung smartphone litigation and has built and led sophisticated licensing and intellectual property functions for global technology organizations. More recently, he has counseled companies on AI model use and training risks amid evolving litigation and regulatory developments.

“I am very excited to join the great team at Via and look forward to working closely with Via leadership to grow our partnerships and present the balanced value proposition of a pool IP license to our customers.  It is an incredibly exciting time for technology innovation and an equally important time for intellectual property and licensing.  I look forward to bringing a balanced perspective from having sat on both sides of the negotiating table to create trust and unlock solutions.”

Zhang will be based in Via’s San Francisco office. He earned a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from Cornell University and a law degree from Fordham University School of Law.  He is admitted to the bar in New York and California and is registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

About Via Licensing Alliance:

Via Licensing Alliance is the collaborative licensing leader, dedicated to accelerating global technology adoption, fostering participation, and generating return on innovation with balanced licensing solutions for innovators and manufacturers of all sizes around the globe. Via has operated dozens of licensing programs for a variety of technologies. Via is an independently managed company owned by industry-leading participants with over 25 years of intellectual property licensing leadership. For more information about Via, please visit https://www.via-la.com.

Contact:
Via Licensing Alliance
Raleigh Hogan-Miller
Press@Via-LA.com

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SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (May 22, 2026) – Via Licensing Alliance (Via) today announced the expansion of its AI and data center licensing efforts by issuing a formal call for patents for its new NAND memory licensing program. The initiative builds on Via’s previously announced DRAM-focused program and reflects the growing importance of advanced memory technologies in supporting next-generation AI infrastructure and data center environments. 

“As AI infrastructure continues to evolve, NAND memory will play an increasingly important role in enabling large-scale data storage and retrieval,” said Kevin Mack, president at Via Licensing Alliance. “Building on our work in DRAM licensing, this new program expands our data center efforts and positions us to support the next generation of AI technologies.” 

Garrard Beeney, a leader of Sullivan & Cromwell’s IP practice for over two decades and whose work has helped shape the global patent licensing landscape, has been engaged to serve as licensing counsel for Via’s data center licensing efforts. 

In 2025, Via announced its plans to launch a series of pools in AI infrastructure and data centers, the first focusing on DRAM memory. Now, as Via continues to focus on opportunities for licensing memory technologies within the data center, the company is moving toward the launch of the second new pool offering in this series: NAND memory. 

The rise of AI data centers has redefined the importance of high-performance memory technologies, with NAND playing a critical role in enabling large-scale data storage, retrieval, and processing. As AI workloads continue to scale, demand for advanced memory solutions is expected to accelerate across the data center ecosystem. The program builds on Via’s previously announced DRAM-focused licensing efforts and represents the company’s second AI and data center-focused patent pool initiative. 

Both NAND and DRAM play critical roles in the future of AI and data centers. DRAM currently represents the greatest memory bottleneck for AI and is used for real-time computing and 

processing. DRAM and NAND therefore work together to form the foundation of modern computer architecture. 

Via Licensing Alliance is inviting patent holders with technologies essential to NAND memory implementations to submit patents for evaluation and potential inclusion in the program. 

About Via Licensing Alliance: 

Via Licensing Alliance is the collaborative licensing leader, dedicated to accelerating global technology adoption, fostering participation, and generating return on innovation with balanced licensing solutions for innovators and manufacturers of all sizes around the globe. Via has operated dozens of licensing programs for a variety of technologies. Via is an independently managed company owned by industry-leading participants with over 25 years of intellectual property licensing leadership. For more information about Via, please visit https://www.via-la.com. 

Contact:
Via Licensing Alliance
Raleigh Hogan-Miller
Press@Via-LA.com 

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SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (May 20, 2026) – Via Licensing Alliance (Via) today announced continued momentum for its Voice Codec patent pool, including the addition of a new unnamed licensee and new licensors, NovaVoice Limited and Cordial IP, further growing the program’s patent stack and market penetration from its initial five, large global licensors. 

The addition of the new licensee, unnamed at this time, reflects growing industry adoption of the collaborative licensing pathway Via’s Voice Codec program creates for accessing IP rights to critical voice technologies. This addition reflects a growing market uptake of advanced voice technologies, including EVS and IVAS, driven by rising demand as 5G and 5G-Advanced technologies are adopted worldwide. 

Additionally, Via continues to prioritize transparency and has published its full rate structure for the Voice Codec pool, providing further clarity and predictability for implementers and to the broader market. For implementers, the full rate structure allows for complete visibility as they consider the appropriate royalty structure to choose from to meet their product level costs, evaluate future growth paths for their product lines, or plan their geographical expansion plan needs. This level of disclosure not only reduces uncertainty in licensing decisions but also enables more consistent benchmarking, reinforcing confidence in fair, market-aligned SEP licensing practices. The program’s royalty rates are listed on Via’s website at https://www.via-la.com/licensing-programs/voice-codec/#license-fees. 

The addition of the new licensors indicates increased interest from patent holders in licensing their voice technology SEPs through highly efficient, aggregated licensing vehicles such as patent pools. Future growth in both the licensor list and the number of patents consolidated through the pool license will continue to enhance the value of the Voice Codec License for implementers. Via’s Voice Codec program licensors are listed here: https://www.via-la.com/licensing-programs/voice-codec/#licensors. 

Via’s Voice Codec pool covers Enhanced Voice Services (EVS), which supports voice communications across more than one billion and growing active devices globally, as well as Immersive Voice and Audio Services (IVAS), which will play a central role in next-generation voice and spatial audio applications. 

“We are pleased to welcome these new entrants to our pool, which signal continued growth and momentum our Voice Codec program,” said Kevin Mack, President of Via Licensing Alliance. “This pool license offers strong value relative to other market options and represents the only collaborative licensing solution for EVS and IVAS technologies, making it a smart and efficient pathway for companies seeking to license critical voice capabilities.” 

EVS remains a foundational technology for high-quality voice communications in 5G and 5G-Advanced networks, with adoption continuing to expand as 5G, 5G-Advanced and future network iterations reach global scale. As spatial audio and advanced voice technologies expand into 6G and a broader range of non-cellular devices, the importance of IVAS technologies is expected to increase, with Via’s pool offering an early and effective licensing pathway. 

For more information about the Voice Codec patent pool, including information for prospective licensees, please visit https://www.via-la.com. 

About Via Licensing Alliance: 

Via Licensing Alliance is the collaborative licensing leader, dedicated to accelerating global technology adoption, fostering participation, and generating return on innovation with balanced licensing solutions for innovators and manufacturers of all sizes around the globe. Via has operated dozens of licensing programs for a variety of technologies. Via is an independently managed company owned by industry-leading participants with over 25 years of intellectual property licensing leadership. For more information about Via, please visit https://www.via-la.com. 

Contact:
Via Licensing Alliance
Raleigh Hogan-Miller
Press@Via-LA.com

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SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (April 14, 2026) – Via Licensing Alliance today announced that Sony has joined Via’s Qi Wireless Power patent pool as both a licensor and licensee. The addition of the major technology company, which brings the number of new licensors and licensees entering the pool over the last six months to a total of nine, highlights the increasing momentum of Via’s Qi Wireless Charging pool.

The pool represents more than 50% of all standard-essential patents (SEPs) in the Qi wireless charging space, making it the leading licensing solution for companies implementing the Qi standard.

“Sony’s participation reinforces the growing industry alignment around collaborative licensing as wireless charging adoption continues to scale globally,” said Kevin Mack, President of Via Licensing Alliance. “As the Qi ecosystem expands, companies are increasingly turning to efficient, streamlined licensing models that reduce complexity and accelerate innovation. Bringing Sony into the pool as both a licensor and licensee further strengthens the program’s depth and underscores its role as a leading solution for implementers worldwide.”

This growth comes at a time of increasing litigation in wireless charging, reinforcing the value of streamlined, collaborative licensing models in the space. Wireless charging applications continue to be increasingly deployed across a number of sectors, including automotive and consumer electronics.

For more information about the Qi Wireless Patent Pool, please visit via-la.com.

About Via Licensing Alliance

Via Licensing Alliance is the collaborative licensing leader, dedicated to accelerating global technology adoption, fostering participation, and generating return on innovation with balanced licensing solutions for innovators and manufacturers of all sizes around the globe. Via has operated dozens of licensing programs for a variety of technologies. Via is an independently managed company owned by industry-leading participants with over 25 years of intellectual property licensing leadership. For more information about Via, please visit www.Via-LA.com.

Contact:
Via Licensing Alliance
Raleigh Hogan-Miller
Press@Via-LA.com

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SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (March 9, 2026) – Via Licensing Alliance (Via) today announced global AI device ecosystem company HONOR is taking a license in Via’s Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) patent pool. As the AAC ecosystem continues to scale, the addition of another leading smartphone manufacturer to the program underscores the critical role that Via’s consolidated licensing model continues to play in advancing global audio codec implementation. With the addition of HONOR as a pool licensee, the penetration of Via’s AAC pool into the mobile market is over 80%.

“The addition of HONOR reinforces the scale and continued relevance of our AAC program,” said Via President Kevin Mack. “AAC remains a foundational audio standard globally, and our consolidated licensing model ensures innovators and implementers have efficient, reliable access to essential technology.”

AAC delivers essential patent rights to technologies advancing audio innovation and includes some of the most efficient audio coding solutions available today. It enables higher-quality audio at lower bit rates than older MPEG formats and supports a wide range of content, including music, speech and ambient sound.

One reason Via’s AAC pool has enjoyed sustained growth for decades is its evergreen structure. By continuously incorporating new, essential patents from the evolving AAC family, the pool ensures that global licensees always have access to the most advanced audio standards through a single, efficient license.

For more information about the AAC patent pool, including information for prospective licensees, please visit www.Via-LA.com.

About Via Licensing Alliance:

Via Licensing Alliance is the collaborative licensing leader, dedicated to accelerating global technology adoption, fostering participation, and generating return on innovation with balanced licensing solutions for innovators and manufacturers of all sizes around the globe. Via has operated dozens of licensing programs for a variety of technologies. Via is an independently managed company owned by industry-leading participants with over 25 years of intellectual property licensing leadership. For more information about Via, please visit www.Via-LA.com.

Contact:
Via Licensing Alliance
Raleigh Hogan-Miller
Press@Via-LA.com

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Via’s Qi Wireless charging pool covers over 50% of all standard-essential patents (SEPs) in the Qi wireless charging space and remains the primary one-stop licensing solution globally for companies looking to implement the Qi standard within their products.

“We are pleased to welcome Longcheer and Desay SV to our Qi Wireless pool,” said Kevin Mack, President of Via Licensing Alliance. “Their participation underscores the continued growth and global adoption of Qi wireless charging technology across both consumer electronics and automotive applications. By joining the pool, these companies will enjoy the benefits of a collaborative licensing model while supporting a fair and efficient licensing ecosystem for the industry.”

Longcheer is a leading global consumer electronics original design manufacturer (ODM), providing full-stack design and manufacturing services for smartphones, personal computing devices, automotive electronics, and emerging consumer electronics products. As one of the world’s largest consumer electronics ODM providers, Longcheer supports a broad range of global brands and telecommunications operators, and has established manufacturing operations in China, Vietnam, and India, with branch offices in the United States, South Korea, Japan, and other regions.

Desay SV is an international mobile technology company focused on automotive intelligence, including intelligent cockpit systems, intelligent driving, and connected services. The company maintains a global presence with overseas institutions in Germany, France, Spain, and Japan, and serves a wide range of domestic and international automotive customers. Desay SV has developed and mass-produced numerous Qi wireless charging solutions.

For more information about the Qi Wireless Patent Pool, please visit via-la.com.

About Via Licensing Alliance

Via Licensing Alliance is the collaborative licensing leader, dedicated to accelerating global technology adoption, fostering participation, and generating return on innovation with balanced licensing solutions for innovators and manufacturers of all sizes around the globe. Via has operated dozens of licensing programs for a variety of technologies. Via is an independently managed company owned by industry-leading participants with over 25 years of intellectual property licensing leadership. For more information about Via, please visit www.Via-LA.com.

Contact:
Via Licensing Alliance
Raleigh Hogan-Miller
Press@Via-LA.com

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