RADIO ROYALTIES

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 442, 25 August 1928, Page 9

RADIO ROYALTIES

MONOPOLY RIGHTS ABUSED MANUFACTURE OF VALVES (United P.A.—By Telegraph — Copyright) (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) Reed. 2.5 p.m. LONDON, Friday. The Patent Office announces that a special tribunal heard the Loewe Radio Company’s application for either a compulsory licence under, or the revocation of, the five letters patent owned by the Marconi Wirelesps Telegraph Company, and the British Thompson Houston Company. The tribunal is satisfied that the abuse of monopoly rights has been established, and has decided that the applicants should be granted the licence, paying royalties of 10s for each triple valve, and 7s 6d for each double valve, subject to a condition under which the parties are allowed 21 days to settle. The applicants claimed that wireless receiving sets equal to threevalve could be made and sold in Britain for £1 10s each, and eventually under mass production for £1 ss. The wholesale price in Germany was £1 ss, and retail £1 19s 6d. Royalties amounting to £35,000 sterling were n id to the Telefunken Company. Loewes are prepared to pay equivalent royalties to Marconis, and are also anxious immediately to transfer the manufacture to Britain. The Comptroller-General and Assist-ant-Comptroller, announcing this decision, are of the opinion that royalties of £1 17s 6d on the Loewe triple valve, and £3 2s 6d on long-range sets are overhigh. The respondents’ insistence thereon and refusal of more reasonable terms, prejudice the establishment of a new British industry. A commercial policy, excluding large sections of the public from the full enjoyment of broadcasting, is not justifiable.