Orange joins not-dead totally-viable Avanci IoT patent pool

Avanci has announced that European MNO Orange has joined the Avanci patent licensing group, bringing the patent-owner membership count to 31. Ostensibly aiming to make licensing IoT technologies easier, the past couple of years of malicious litigation have darkened the mood in the industry. When Avanci finally starts to swing the hammer, it is going to be very poorly received indeed. Collectively, the 31 companies are contributing their intellectual property into a pool, and then working out how much each bit of IP is worth to any given technology. Then, with the might of all those lawyers, Avanci essentially tells companies it thinks it can sue that they should pay up – distributing these earnings to the members according to…