PATENT FEE CHANGE WOULD LOWER TV COSTS, SAYS GROUP
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PATENT FEE CHANGE WOULD LOWER TV COSTS, SAYS GROUP
The consumer advocacy group Coalition United to Terminate Financial Abuses of the Television Transition (CUTFATT) says it will petition the FCC to overhaul its rules for digital television patent licenses, which, it claims, have allowed patent holders to charge manufacturers exorbitant fees that boost the average price of a TV set by about $30 over what the same set would cost in other countries, the Washington Post reported today (Friday). The newspaper quoted CUTFATT spokesman Amos Snead as saying, "American consumers are paying higher prices for digital TV sets and converter boxes and we think someone should stand up for them." The group wants the FCC to adopt a "patent-pool" system like those in Europe and Asia in which manufacturers pay a flat rate of $1 per set for all necessary patents. The group said that U.S. manufacturers pay a rate of $20-30 for such patents.
02/01/2009
