IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Standards Association) announced on Monday that it will collaborate with Via Licensing to foster the development of patent pools based on IEEE standards. IEEE is a professional organization for the advancement of tech. The two-year pilot program is the first of its kind between a standards developer and a licensing administrator, said Via and IEEE. The collaboration will encourage intellectual property holders to establish joint licensing programs through which they will offer streamlined royalty rates and licenses for all of the patents in the pool.

IEEE wants to get more products based on its standards into the market, while Via will apply its regular administration fees to any patent pools arranged with the IEEE. However, the specific terms of the agreement have not been disclosed, though both entities will take on some costs of the project and a small percentage of Via's returns will get to IEEE. With this deal, the companies will navigate overlapping IP rights, they will deal with multiple IP holders and different prices and they will face the increased risk of costly patent lawsuits.

Via, a subsidiary of Dolby Laboratories, is currently developing an Ultra-High Frequency Radio Frequency ID patent pool for members of the RFID Consortium. While Via will facilitate negotiations with participating companies, IEEE's role will be to build awareness. Anyway, it's difficult to say how successful the program will be, and that's because developing a patent pool can take one to two years. This is another effort to cut back on patent litigations from third parties and speed up the time to market of standards-based products. The IEEE Standards Association's Edward J. Rashba notes that nothing in the standards process will change, as “patent pooling becomes relevant after the standard has been approved.”