Sisvel S.p.a. - Società Italiana per lo Sviluppo dell'Elettronica

Sisvel is a company working in the field of technological innovations, more precisely in the area of consumer electronics, with special attention being given to television sets, multimedia stations and video recorders. In particular Sisvel deals with surveying trends of innovations and consequently stimulating the development of new technologies realised through selected research laboratories. The result of this activity leads to the protection and exploitation of the relative technical progress through the use of industrial and intellectual property rights, i.e. patents for industrial inventions, utility models, copyrights, etc.

This kind of activity allows Sisvel to manage and auto-finance its day to day running with the income deriving from royalty payments relative to licensing contracts granted to third parties; an income which not only auto-finances the company but also enables Sisvel to sponsor new research. In fact Sisvel initiated its activity of granting licenses for the use of its patents back in 1986, the first licensees were all the major German television manufactures, and namely: Telefunken, Saba, Nordmende, Philips, ITT, Grundig, Loewe-Opta, Metz, etc.

This line of activity was then taken one step further, with the result of numerous other licenses being granted to other manufactures from outside the European Community. In fact today it is possible to say that on a world wide scale the greater part (being made up of all the major companies) of consumer electronic product manufactures are Sisvel Licensees.

Taking into consideration the number of companies that have preferred to negotiate patent license agreements with Sisvel for the use of its patent rights, along with the eventual payment of royalties, rather than renounce the clear advantages and commercial benefits that the patented technologies of Sisvel's patents can offer, it is clear that the value of such patents is of considerable importance. It is therefore quite feasible that the actual number of Sisvel licensees will increase over the coming years.

Apart from the rights bestowed with its industrial property, a further important patrimony of Sisvel is that represented by the know-how acquired concerning the more efficient and practical channels for economically exploiting industrial property rights. Through the calculated utilisation of this know-how it is quite possible to imagine a development of the company's activities in sectors being different from that of consumer electronics, which up to the present has been the sole sector within which Sisvel has operated.

Besides, Sisvel is a member of AIRI, the Italian Association for the Industrial Research, which on its website (www.airi.it) reports very interesting information for the companies acting in the research and development field, like statistical data on expenses and employment for R&D (in Italy and in the most important countries), about laws and investments for the research, about the research activities of the member companies, about the essential technologies for the industry, about the administration of the industrial research, about the policy for science and technology in Italy and abroad.