SigmaTel Establishes European Intellectual Property Protection Strategy; Company to Institute European Licensing Program Based on Growing Intellectual Property Portfolio
AUSTIN, Texas—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Nov. 21, 2005—
SigmaTel Inc. (NASDAQ:SGTL), a leader in mixed-signal
multimedia semiconductors, today announced the establishment of a
European Intellectual Property (IP) protection and licensing strategy.
Similar to SigmaTel's ongoing IP strategy in the United States, the
European licensing program will initially focus on the protection and
enforcement of 19 patents related to power management, multimedia
applications and MP3 hardware and software. The European licensing
program will encompass current SigmaTel customers, who have an implied
license when they purchase SigmaTel products, as well as other MP3
manufactures and MP3 semiconductor developers who may include SigmaTel
intellectual property in their product designs.
"SigmaTel is very protective of its growing IP portfolio, and the
company believes that many of the MP3 semiconductors and MP3 players
developed and shipped to Europe are infringing its intellectual
property," said Ron Edgerton, president and CEO of SigmaTel. "The
company's new European IP protection program and licensing strategy
provides SigmaTel a reasonable method to protect its customers'
investments in SigmaTel's technology."
SigmaTel protects its innovations by filing numerous patent
applications and has added intellectual property via recent
acquisitions, complementing its internally developed intellectual
property holdings, which has resulted in a significant patent
portfolio in Europe. The company believes its patent portfolio is
applicable to MP3 silicon manufacturers and MP3 player manufacturers
who import products to European countries.
In implementing a licensing strategy, SigmaTel hopes to ensure
that European retailers do not have to remove infringing products from
store shelves and hopes to protect suppliers, such as NAND flash
suppliers, from not being paid if SigmaTel ultimately has to resort to
legal action to stop the sale of unlicensed MP3 players not powered by
SigmaTel. SigmaTel intends to attempt in all cases to first employ its
licensing strategy, but will not hesitate to resort to legal action if
MP3 player or silicon manufacturers or importers decline to
participate in SigmaTel's licensing program.
With more than 60% of MP3 players using SigmaTel technology
worldwide, the company's continued success is based in large part on
protecting its intellectual property and innovating new technologies.
For more information on SigmaTel and specifics regarding its patent
portfolio, please visit www.sigmatel.com.
About SigmaTel:
SigmaTel Inc. a fabless semiconductor company headquartered in
Austin, Texas, designs, develops, and markets proprietary, analog
intensive, mixed-signal ICs for a variety of digital multimedia
products in the consumer electronics and computing markets, including
portable compressed audio players, such as MP3 players, notebook and
desktop PCs, digital video cameras, multi-function peripheral
products, digital televisions, and set-top boxes. SigmaTel provides
complete, system-level solutions that include highly integrated ICs,
customizable firmware and software, software development tools,
reference designs, and applications support. The Company's focus is on
providing system-level solutions that enable customers to rapidly
introduce and offer electronic products that are small, light-weight,
power-efficient, reliable, and cost-effective. SigmaTel is ISO
9001:2000 certified and is committed to providing customers with
high-performance, quality products along with superior customer
service.
Cautionary Language: This press release contains forward-looking
statements based on current SigmaTel expectations. The words "expect,"
"will," "should," "would," "anticipate," "project," "outlook,"
"believe," "intend," and similar phrases as they relate to SigmaTel or
future events are intended to identify such forward-looking
statements. These forward-looking statements reflect the current views
and assumptions of SigmaTel, but are subject to various risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially
from expectations. A number of important factors could cause actual
results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking
statements, and there will be events in the future that SigmaTel is
not able to accurately predict or control. For a discussion of factors
that could impact SigmaTel's financial results and cause actual
results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking
statements, please refer to recent SigmaTel filings with the SEC,
particularly the Form 10-K that was filed on February 8, 2005 and the
Form 10-Q that was filed on November 10, 2005.
SigmaTel is a registered trademark of SigmaTel Inc. All other
products and brand names as they appear in this release are trademarks
or registered trademarks of their respective holders. All
specifications may be changed without notice.
Contact:
SigmaTel Inc., Austin
Aaron De Lucia, 512-381-3994
Email Contact
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