Geoworks to get rich on WAP licences

Wireless communications company Geoworks has announced that it owns Intellectual Property (IP) rights to parts of the international WAP forum and will begin collecting licencing fees from manufacturers of WAP compatible devices.

Following initial notification last May, the company has now officially informed the WAP Forum that it holds essential IP rights for the Wireless Application Protocol and the Wireless Markup Language specification.

Geoworks has set up a licencing programme to make this IP available to all Forum members.

The patent in question is for the invention of a flexible user interface for mobile communications devices. Geoworks holds this patent for all devices based on the WAP specification.

The company said that it has already entered into licencing discussions with several key members of the WAP Forum. Royalties include a $20,000 licence fee along with a 10 percent royalty fee on top of the price of a device.

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