NEWS RELEASECOMPREHENSIVE RESOLUTION OF PATENT ISSUE RELATING TO
BS 4K DIGITALTELEVISION BROADCASTINGULDAGE and BS 4K Digital Television Broadcasters Agree on
Execution of License Agreements
August 8, 2022
ULDAGE Inc.
ULDAGE Inc., the patent pool license administrator, is pleased to report that, up to today,
following BS 4K digital television broadcasters and ULDAGE, after long-held negotiations,have executed license agreements for essential patents relating to BS 4K digital television
broadcasting.
NIPPON HOSO KYOKAI (Japan Broadcasting Corporation), BS Nippon Corporation, Asahi
Satellite Broadcasting Limited, BS-TBS, INC., BS TV Tokyo Corporation, FUJI SATELLITE
BROADCASTING, INC., WOWOW INC., SC Satellite Hoso Kabushikikaisha, QVC SATELLITE,INC.
(in numerical order of channel)
BS 4K digital television broadcasting, which started in Japan in December 2018, isprovided in conformity with the commonly known as ARIB Standards established throughdiscussions among the participating members of The Association of Radio Industries andBusinesses (ARIB). The Standards reflect technologies, suggestions, and ideas ofnumerous broadcasters, device manufacturers, and other concerned parties, andconsequently, there is a wide variety of patent holders involved in such technologies, anda large number of essential patents are also involved.
Unless appropriate measures are taken to tackle this kind of complex patent issue, thestandards themselves or the growth of BS 4K digital television broadcasting business itself
could be negatively affected.
ULDAGE was established in July 2006 in order to resolve such patent issue and promote
the growth of the digital television broadcasting system by gathering various essentialpatents relating to digital television broadcasting in one place and then licensing them asa package through the commonly known as patent pooling method.
At present, ULDAGE has pooled approximately 570 essential patents held by 19 patent
holders. Under the BS 4K digital television license program intended for receivers, which
was implemented back in 2017, 88 licensee companies manufacture and sell such devices,and the program has contributed greatly to the establishment of the environment for thepromotion of the BS 4K digital televisions which are capable to receive high resolution 4K
digital television broadcasting in addition to existing 2K digital television broadcasting.
Digital television broadcasting cannot be realized unless both ends exist: the broadcasters
which send signals that comply with the ARIB Standards and the television receivers
which receive such signals.
Consequently, ULDAGE has long pursued negotiations with the representatives of the BS
4K digital television broadcasters to materialize the license program for BS 4K digital
television broadcasting. The recent execution of license agreements with the BS 4K digital
television broadcasters, following the license agreements with 129 terrestrial digital
television broadcasters concluded in March 2013, as well as those with 19 BS digital
television broadcasters concluded in September 2015 and 21 CS digital

television

broadcasters concluded in April 2018 are groundbreaking in that the broadcasters will
now reward the patent holders, namely, the developers of the relevant technologies, bydirectly bearing an appropriate proportion of royalties for the use of such technologies.
As a result, the broadcasters will be able to further conduct their broadcasting businesses
in a stable condition without any concern over the issue of BS 4K digital television
broadcasting related essential patents pooled with ULDAGE.BS 4K digital television
broadcasting has just launched recently and we expect additional new broadcasters infuture.

These new broadcasters are also required to enter into the similar license

agreement.

ULDAGE shall contribute to maintain the culture of fair sharing of royalties

among the implementers.

About ULDAGE Inc.
ULDAGE Inc. was established in July 2006 for the purpose of providing tools forrevitalizing business by creating a competitive environment through collaboration andresolution of patent issues in this complex digital age. ULDAGE Inc. undertakes its
business by granting licenses for essential patents held by multiple parties in a single
package (by the patent pooling method) which offers convenience to both patent
holders and business operators.

Location:

Yusen Building, 2-3-2 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo

Phone:+81-(0)3-6256-0150

President & CEO:

Shuichi Endo

Stated Capital:

60,000,000 yen

Shareholders:

JVC KENWOOD Corporation

14.29%

Maxell, Ltd.

14.29%

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation

14.29%

Panasonic Holdings Corporation14.29%

Sharp Corporation

14.29%

Sony Group Corporation

14.29%

Toshiba Corporation

14.29%

FAX:+81-(0)3-6256-0151