This article was originally published by RFID Update.
November 4, 2004—Intermec Technologies, a leading RFID manufacturer based in Everett, Washington, has temporarily suspended the intellectual property licensing program it announced earlier this summer that caused an industry stir. The program, which covers core RFID technology included in the second generation standard specification (“GEN 2”), meant that in order to develop GEN 2-compliant products, RFID tag and reader manufacturers would be required to pay Intermec licensing fees. In September, the GEN 2 ratification process entered one of the final stages in which RFID vendors must collectively prove the standard’s viability by producing functioning prototypes built according to the specification. But EPCglobal, the organization heading the GEN 2 effort, has reported that important RFID vendor companies, wary of Intermec hitting them with fees, are balking at developing prototypes. So this 60-day suspension is an allowance by Intermec for vendors to develop prototypes fee-free, and it ensures that the GEN 2 standard ratification, a milestone the industry is increasingly impatient to pass, is not stalled at this crucial stage. But don’t mistake Intermec’s move as selfless: forgoing the nominal revenues for prototype fees is a negligible sacrifice for expediting GEN 2 ratification, when the company will begin reaping huge benefit from the explosion of new RFID upgrade products released around the new standard.
Read the article at The Seattle Times
