EPCGlobal Marks A Major Milestone On The Road To Ratifying UHF Generation 2 Protocol Specification

In my June 4 article, I suggested that EPCglobal was on track to ratify a UHF Generation 2 protocol specification by the end of this year. Within a matter of weeks, EPCglobal's Hardware Action Group (HAG) averted a potential derailment and completed a significant leg of its journey – consensus on a single submission. Although potential roadblocks still remain, this represents a major effort and a job well done by HAG and all of its participating members.

At the end of May, HAG found itself with the task of reconciling proposals from two opposing camps. Matrics and Atmel had joined forces with Alien to submit the Freedom proposal, which replaced Alien's previously submitted Q proposal. EM Microelectronic-Marin SA and RFIP aligned themselves with the Unified Group (Intermec, Texas Instruments, Phillips, and others) to endorse the Global proposal.

While the technical differences between the two proposals appeared to be surmountable, the philosophical difference over intellectual property (IP) and attending royalties was, and remains, significant. The Freedom team advocates that all companies should contribute IP to the specification on a royalty-free basis, while the Global team believes that companies should be compensated on a reasonable and nondiscriminatory basis. If the opposing specifications could not be reconciled by the end of June, HAG would vote on which proposal to take forward.

The Freedom and Global teams have since reached a consensus on a merged technical specification. This was made possible by agreeing to table all IP considerations until after the best technical compromise could be achieved. By June 23, a formal memo was issued to members of HAG stating that consensus on the new specification, dubbed the "Chicago Protocol," had been reached.

While this represents good progress, the IP issue is not going to simply fade away. EPCglobal's IP Policy indicates a preference for companies to license their IP on a royalty-free basis, to the greatest extent possible. According to Tom Miller, president of Intermec, "This is problematic for companies that have made significant investments in RFID research and development." As a matter of fact, on June 8, Intermec filed an RFID patent infringement complaint against Matrics. The complaint alleges that Matrics infringed on four of Intermec's RFID patents and requests payment of a reasonable royalty.

Click here for more information on Intermec's Patent Infringement Complaint Against Matrics.

For more information on EPCGlobal's IP Policy, click here.