SAN FRANCISCO, May 02, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Via Licensing Alliance LLC (Via LA), the collaborative licensing leader, announced today the appointment of three new members to its Board of Directors: Patrick Patnode, President of GE Licensing, an affiliate of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE); Jako Eleveld, Vice President and Head of IP Licensing at Koninklijke Philips N.V. (NYSE: PHG); and Keiko Higuchi, Senior Manager and Head of Patent Pools in the Corporate Licensing Division of the Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TSE: 6503). Their appointment follows the conversion of partial ownership in MPEG LA to an ownership stake in Via LA by affiliates of GE, Philips, and Mitsubishi Electric in connection with the recent combination of Via Licensing Corporation and MPEG LA, L.L.C.

“I’m delighted to welcome Patrick, Jako, and Keiko to the Via LA Board,” said Andy Sherman, Chair of Via LA’s Board of Directors. “They have a track record of intellectual property leadership, deep industry expertise, and relationships throughout the global IP ecosystem that will add significant value for Via LA.”

Via LA is an industry solution that will enable collaborative innovation and benefit the entire global IP ecosystem of licensors and licensees. The new appointees will help the Via LA Board oversee the fulfillment of that mission.

About Patrick Patnode
Mr. Patnode serves as President of GE Licensing, leading a team of global licensing professionals focused on creating value from GE’s extensive portfolio of intellectual property. Under Mr. Patnode’s leadership, GE Licensing has expanded beyond traditional patent licensing to offer solutions to help partners access GE’s 40,000+ patents, and the inventions that come from GE’s Global Research Centers and across GE’s Business Units of GE Aerospace, GE Vernova, and GE Corporate.

About Jako Eleveld
Mr. Eleveld serves as Vice President and Head of IP Licensing at Philips and has been on the executive management team of Philips Intellectual Property & Standards (IP&S) for almost 15 years. Philips IP&S is a leading industrial IP organization that handles all IP matters for Philips. As Head of IP Licensing, Mr. Eleveld leads a successful global team that develops new standards and technology based on Philips IP for various industries, and handles all related IP licensing and IP venturing for Philips.

About Keiko Higuchi
Ms. Higuchi serves as Senior Manager and Head of Patent Pools in the Corporate Licensing Division of the Mitsubishi Electric Corporation. Ms. Higuchi brings to the Board of Via LA more than two decades of industry experience and expertise leading intellectual property licensing and transactional initiatives on behalf of Mitsubishi Electric Corporation. Prior to her role at Mitsubishi Electric, she held leadership positions at Renesas Electronics Corporation, as well as Megachips Corporation, where she gained extensive knowledge of licensing and IP transactions in the semiconductor industry.

About Via Licensing Alliance
Via LA is the collaborative licensing leader, dedicated to accelerating global technology adoption, fostering participation, and generating return on innovation with balanced licensing solutions for innovators and manufacturers of all sizes around the globe. Via LA has operated dozens of licensing programs for a variety of technologies consisting of nearly 50,000 patents in over 130 countries with more than 500 patent holders and nearly 10,000 licensees. Via LA is an independently managed subsidiary of Dolby Laboratories, Inc., owned by industry-leading participants with over 25 years of intellectual property licensing leadership. For more information about Via LA, please visit www.Via-LA.com.

For additional information about the formation of Via LA, please see the press release: Via Licensing and MPEG LA Unite to Form Via Licensing Alliance, the Largest Patent Pool Administrator in the Consumer Electronics Industry, available here.

Contact
Via LA
Liz Weber
415-645-4124
Press@Via-LA.com