Which companies are represented by Sipro Lab Telecom?
Sipro Lab Telecom represents the G.723.1 Group, which includes AudioCodes, France Telecom, and Université de Sherbrooke. In a separate agreement, Sipro also represents the rights of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT).

What is a patent license agreement and what does it include?
The G.723.1 patent license agreements grant patent rights only, that is, the right to use patented technology of the G.723.1 licensors. No software code is delivered.

Are the G.723.1 licenses required only when the ITU-T G.723.1 standard is used for encoding signal?
No. The licenses are required for both encoding and decoding voice signal.

How are royalty fees calculated?
Royalty fees are calculated on the basis of channel (also called port) volume. The cumulative number of channels is counted over time, and pricing is applied according to the channel volume reached (please see the Licensing Terms for prices). When a channel volume threshold is reached, a new price level, based on volume, is applied. The count is cumulative through the life of the license. 

What is a channel?
A channel refers to the capacity of handling a single point-to-point voice conversation data stream, be it unidirectional or bidirectional, on a continuous or sequential basis.  

What are the G.723.1 pricing categories?
There are four (4) pricing categories for the rights to G.723.1, and each category is application based:

1. Full Use: This pricing category applies to hardware products or devices in which no more than two G.723.1 channels exist and in which each channel is permanently assigned to a specific client or workstation.

2. Single Application: This pricing category applies to client-only software applications.

3. Server: This pricing category applies to multiple-channel hardware or software products.

4. Decoder only: This pricing category applies to client decoder-only non-server device software that offers ONLY decoding functions.

What is the difference between an initial fee and a royalty advance?
The initial fee is an administrative fee required by the license which does not provide any prepaid number of channels. A royalty advance is a payment toward a number of prepaid channels .

What does the fully paid-up fee cover?
The fully paid-up fee allows the licensee to sell and use an unlimited number of channels using the G.723.1 standard.

Why is it necessary to pay twice for patents that may be essential to both the G.729 and the G.723.1 standards?
The portfolios of patents essential to each standard are different even if some of the patent holders are the same. The standards were originally dedicated to different applications, and essential patent holders have thus established two different licensing entities (the G.729 Consortium and the G.723.1 Group) to address the different needs of potential licensees. The pricing structure for each of these standards was established by validating market acceptance for the overall portfolio.