Bluetooth SIG Appoints Neville Meijers as New Chief Executive Officer

The Bluetooth SIG announced the appointment of their new Chief Executive Officer, Neville Meijers, replacing Mark Powell, who led the Bluetooth SIG for 12 years. With a long career in telecommunications, Neville Meijers has helped elevate wireless technology and businesses to new heights. His background includes highly successful terms in senior executive positions around the world, from large multinational conglomerates – including 10 years at Qualcomm Technologies - to high-growth startups.

Fraunhofer IIS, the primary developer of the MPEG-H 3D Audio standard, announced that Sony Corporation (Sony) has licensed Fraunhofer’s MPEG-H 3D Audio Baseline Profile Decoder software and joined the MPEG-H Trademark Program. Among many other applications, the announcement allows reinforcing Sony’s 360 Reality Audio and MPEG-H 3D Audio implementations in a wide variety of products from the company.

Fraunhofer IIS, the primary inventor of the MPEG-H 3D Audio standard, and StreamUnlimited, a supplier of software solutions and hardware modules for connected audio products, have announced that MPEG-H 3D Audio Baseline Profile decoders have been integrated into the StreamSDK from StreamUnlimited. The Austrian company is already offering decoder implementations supporting the MPEG-H 3D Audio Baseline Profile and has joined the MPEG-H Audio System trademark program administered by Fraunhofer.

At the 2019 Prolight+Sound show in Frankfurt, Neutrik went on a determined offensive against product piracy. Following Neutrik’s request, police seized numerous products that clearly violate intellectual property rights. Moreover, extensive warnings to cease and desist have also been sent to the companies concerned and further legal action has already been launched by the famous manufacturer of professional connector products for audio and video.

With electric vehicles now circulating silently in the roads, brands will need to trademark their iconic engine sounds as a way to simultaneously comply with safety requirements and convey a familiar sense of excitement to drivers. When a sound is immediately recognized as part of a brand or iconic product it should be trademarked and protected and that's exactly what iconic windproof lighter Zippo achieved. The Zippo lighter's 'click' is now officially among the most recognizable sounds in the world and is protected by a sound trademark.

BCMI, the company founded by Massimo Banzi, David Cuartielles, David Mellis and Tom Igoe, co-founders of Arduino, has announced that it has acquired 100% ownership of Arduino AG, the corporation which owns the Arduino trademarks. Following the acquisition, Massimo Banzi becomes the new Chairman and CTO of Arduino. Fabio Violante will be appointed as the new CEO, replacing Federico Musto who will pursue other opportunities outside Arduino AG.

In audio, many technological advances have resulted from the work of engineers who have successfully licensed their inventions rather than bringing the products to market themselves. This article on business development and strategy examines licensing negotiation tactics from the intellectual property (IP) owner’s perspective.