HP Expands IP Licensing Program to Asia

Hewlett-Packard (HP) has opened an intellectual property (IP) licensing center in Singapore, hoping to generate additional revenue by licensing HP patents and other technologies to companies in the region, it said on Tuesday.

HP hopes to cash in on the increasing use of IT in Asian countries. The center will serve north Asia, along with India and Singapore, it said. HP company holds more than 25,000 patents and in 2005 ranked number three overall for patents awarded by the U.S. Patent Office.

The company began its IP licensing program in 2003, to help customers with their licensing procedures and generate additional revenue for HP.

In the process of developing products and services, companies occasionally create technologies that are not central to their core offerings, or that they are willing to share with others. Such technologies may then be licensed by outside parties to generate additional revenue for the company.

Microsoft initiated a similar IP licensing program in 2003, which it expanded last year to target start-up companies.

Bangalore-based Prodigy Labs became one of the first companies to use the new HP center’s services, licensing an Indian-language input system, which uses handwriting technology instead of a Roman alphabetic keyboard.

-Steven Schwankert, IDG News Service

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