Like most news articles it doesn't say a heck of a lot. All one can glean from
this article is that the two parties fighting over patent rights have resolved
their differences. Nothing in the article says that the patent holders will
actually start licensing the technology to anyone. And, of course, it doesn't
say what the royalties will be if they do start licensing the technology. So in
addition to increased materials costs (I assume silver and copper are more
expensive than lead) solder makers will have to pay a royalty to the patent
holders (unless Senju Metal and Matsushita Electric decide to be altruistic and
not charge a royalty)
Note also that the article says "The move makes it possible for __Japanese
equipment manufacturers__ to purchase Sn-Ag-Cu solder from Senju Metal, Nihon
Superior or any vendors licensed by both companies..." It says nothing about
non-Japanese OEM's or the licenses from the US patent holders (although that may
be because the article originated in Japan and was aimed at a Japanese
audience??).

Nor does it say what rights the US patent holders obtained from the Japanese
patent holders. However, I suspect that cross license agreements were negotiated
since that is the common way these disputes are resolved so that the US patent
holders can license whatever they got from the Japanese patents.

On the issue of sublicensing - that is not likely to be relevant to OEMs. If
Senju Metal grants a license to ABC Solder Co. Ltd. anyone who buys solder from
ABC Solder will be deemed to have a "license" and will not need to get seperate
licences from Senju; otherwise the license from Senju to ABC would be
meaningless.
I don't know what the rules are in Japan, so the Japanese patent rights holders
may be able to discriminate against certain solder makers in granting or
withholding licenses. In the US, even though a patent is a stae granted
monopoly, if a holder of a patent does decide to license the technology it can
not do so in a way the restricts competition (i.e. its licensing practices can
not violate the US anti-trust laws). In other words they can not use the state
granted monopoly in a monopolistc way. [Don't worry, it makes no sense to me
either]
As an aside, since both US patent holders are taxpayer funded institutions there
may be certain rules that apply to how they can exploit their patent rights. I
will make some enquiries among my Intellectual Property colleagues.

Chuck Dolci
Director, Environment, Health & Safety

*MIME-Version: 1.0
*X-Priority: 3
*X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
*X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4133.2400
*From: David Suraski <[log in to unmask]>
*Subject: [LF] Sn-Ag-Cu Patent
*To: [log in to unmask]
*
*Hi All,
*
*I found the press release below while on IPC's leadfree site.  Could
*someone please explain what this means?  Has the patent been opened up
*or do manufacturers in Japan now need to sub-license the alloy?
*
*Does this do anything to resolve the potential patent issues surrounding
*the use of a Sn-Ag-Cu alloy in the U.S. or importing these assemblies
*into the U.S.(except for from Japan)?
*
*Thanks,
*
*David
*
*Pb-Free Solder Patent Problems Finally Resolved
*
*Senju Metal Industry Co, Ltd, and Nihon Superior Co, Ltd, have resolved
*their patent dispute concerning Sn-Ag-Cu-based Pb-free solder. Rights
*held by Senju Metal and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co, Ltd, and
*other rights held by Nihon Superior and the US Department of Energy's
*Ames Laboratory at Ohio State University, have been unified into a set
*for licensing to other solder manufacturers.
*
*The move makes it possible for Japanese equipment manufacturers to
*purchase Sn-Ag-Cu solder from Senju Metal, Nihon Superior or any vendors
*licensed by both companies, and to sell equipment products in both Japan
*and America without fears of infringement.
*
*The problem stemmed from the fact that Senju Metal and Matsushita
*Electric were granted the patent in Japan, while the Ames Laboratory
*held patent rights in the US, meaning that neither side could sell in
*the other country.
*
*Sn-Ag-Cu solder is the most promising Pb-free solder, and the decision
*to unify rights is expected to accelerate its adoption by manufacturers
*as the "standard" lead-free material.
*
*(April 2001 Issue, Nikkei Electronics Asia)
*

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