RFID Consortium Designates MPEG LA as Administrator for RFID Patent Licensing Process.

CHICAGO & DENVER -- The RFID Consortium (in formation) announced today that it has designated MPEG LA, LLC, a world leader in one-stop technology standards patent licensing, to administer a patent licensing arrangement for RFID technology. MPEG LA will administer the process of evaluating and determining patents that are essential for the UHF RFID standard in order to include them in a joint patent portfolio license providing users with fair, reasonable, nondiscriminatory access to this important technology. The agreement was announced today at the EPCglobal US 2005 conference held at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta this week.

"MPEG LA looks forward to offering users of the UHF RFID standard the opportunity to obtain efficient access to essential intellectual property under a single, independently administered license on fair, reasonable non-discriminatory terms," said Baryn S. Futa, Chief Executive Officer, MPEG LA. "Building on the success of the MPEG-2 Patent Portfolio License, MPEG LA is pleased to assist in bringing together the essential patent holders in order to enable the efficient adoption of this powerful new technology for supply chain management and myriad other applications. We are pleased to be working with the Consortium and we will, as always, exercise our independent skill and judgment in implementing in compliance with all legal requirements what promises to be a very exciting program."

"Engagement of MPEG LA to administer this program is an important step toward addressing the needs of the marketplace, and to help this emerging technology reach its full potential," said RFID Consortium designated spokesperson Kevin Ashton, vice president of Marketing for ThingMagic. "We recognize MPEG LA's critical role and proven track record as independent patent licensing administrator."

The RFID Consortium has entered into a letter of intent with MPEG LA under which MPEG LA will issue a call for patents to determine essential patent holders and implement the consortium's licensing plan. On August 9, 2005, a group of companies announced its intention to form the IP licensing consortium to offer both an efficient alternative patent management approach for patent holders and convenient alternative access to RFID patents for manufacturers and end-users.

Companies that have signed term sheets to become members of the consortium as of the date of this release include:

--Alien Technology Corporation

--Applied Wireless Identification Group, Inc. ("AWID")

--Avery Dennison Corporation (NYSE: AVY)

--Moore Wallace, an RR Donnelley Company (NYSE: RRD)

--Symbol Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: SBL)

--ThingMagic, Inc.

--Tyco Fire & Security (NYSE: TYC)

--Zebra Technologies Corporation (Nasdaq: ZBRA)

The RFID Consortium is intended to provide a structured approach for holders of essential RFID patents to receive fair compensation for those patents, at a reasonable cost to the end-user, thus promoting rapid adoption of RFID. This approach offers competitive benefits by integrating complementary technologies and reducing transaction costs. It offers an efficient alternative for those who may find bilateral licensing options with individual patent holders to be too time-consuming, cumbersome or expensive.

The RFID Consortium is based on, and supportive of, the standards and specifications announced by EPCglobal, a not-for-profit organization involved in proposing standards for Electronic Product Codes and RFID technology, as well as ISO (International Standards Organization) counterpart proposed standards. The consortium will be open to all patent holders, regardless of whether they were involved in the development of those standards. The EPCglobal and ISO specifications are expected to be followed by RFID technology users to ensure interoperability. The consortium expects to work in parallel with those standard setting organizations to assist in the commercialization and wide acceptance of the standards they independently develop.

MPEG LA will administer the portfolio license consisting of patents owned by essential patent holders in the RFID Consortium that are essential to the viable operation and manufacture of RFID chips, tags and labels, and readers. Such consolidated licensing enables the use of broad-based technologies covered by many patents owned by diverse patent holders. This licensing approach benefits end-users, and also relieves patent holders from the burden of managing hundreds of different licensing agreements with individual licensees.

It is anticipated that MPEG LA will develop a call for patents in the near future. Any party that believes it has patents that are essential to the announced standard and wishes to join in the RFID Consortium will be invited to submit its patents for evaluation by MPEG LA's patent experts.

Note to prospective participants: RFID Consortium representatives will be available for more information at the Omni Hotel, adjacent to the EPCglobal US 2005 conference, at 100 CNN Center. Those interested in learning more can meet with Consortium representatives in the Redwood Room of the Omni Hotel on Wednesday, September 14, from 12:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. Kevin Ashton will host an open presentation in the Redwood Room of Omni Hotel at 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday.

RFID

RFID technology uses small radio chips that, among other uses, can be placed in tags or labels to help manufacturers and retailers locate stock and to automatically record the movement of inventory. The technology is widely regarded as the next-generation advanced data capture technology, beyond the ubiquitous bar code. Government agencies and leading retailers have urged their suppliers to speed their implementation of RFID technology.

UHF RFID Standard

UHF RFID refers to physical and logical requirements for a passive-backscatter, Interrogator-talks-first (ITF), radio-frequency identification system operating in the ultra high frequency range. EPCglobal's Generation 1 and Generation 2 specifications document the air interface protocol (the signaling layer of the communication link) between readers and tags, operating procedures for readers and tags, and the collision arbitration scheme used to identify a specific tag in a multiple-tag environment.

MPEG LA, LLC

MPEG LA is the world leader in one-stop technology platform patent licenses, enabling users to acquire patent rights necessary for a particular technology standard or platform from multiple patent holders in a single transaction as an alternative to negotiating a license with each of them. Wherever an independently administered one-stop patent license would provide a convenient marketplace alternative to assist users with implementation of their technology choices, the licensing model pioneered and employed by MPEG LA may provide a solution. MPEG LA is not related to any standards agency and is not an affiliate of any patent holder and will operate as an independent licensing authority under a contractual arrangement with the RFID Consortium. MPEG LA currently licenses portfolios of essential patents for the MPEG-2, IEEE 1394, DVBT, MPEG-4 Visual (Part 2), MPEG-4 Systems and AVC/H.264 (also known as MPEG-4 Part 10) standards. MPEG LA is also facilitating the development of alternative patent portfolio licenses for VC-1, ATSC, DVB-H and various digital rights management (DRM) technologies including OMA DRM 1.0 and 2.0. In addition, MPEG LA actively seeks to adopt its alternative patent licensing model in other industries including biotech and pharmaceutical. For more information, please refer to www.mpegla.com.

About the RFID Consortium

The RFID Consortium is comprised of companies involved with radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. The consortium's goal is to promote rapid adoption of RFID by ensuring manufacturers and customers alike easier access to essential RFID patents and to allow patent owners the opportunity to receive fair compensation for those patents, all at a reasonable cost to the end-user.

A Web site is in development, to provide further details and background. In the interim, for information about joining the consortium, e-mail [e-mail] or call 312-807-4399.