VoiceAge Corporation Announces Strategic Transaction with Affiliates of Fortress Investment Group to License VoiceAge’s EVS Patent Portfolio
MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA - December 10, 2018 – VoiceAge Corporation, a major technological contributor of voice and audio standard codecs, announced today that it has entered into a strategic transaction with funds managed by affiliates of Fortress Investment Group LLC (“Fortress”) under which Fortress will license VoiceAge’s Enhanced Voice Services (EVS) Patent Portfolio.
"We continue to focus on easing access to our technologies as EVS standard deployments in Europe, Asia and the USA continue to gain momentum,” said Sylvain Desjardins, co-president of VoiceAge Corporation. GSA (Global mobile Suppliers Association) reported last September that the EVS standard is supported by 19 operators and 153 mobile phone models provided by at least 12 handset manufacturers. The new EVS codec was standardized by 3GPP in 2014 and is being marketed around the world as “HD Voice Plus” and “Ultra HD Voice.”
Under the terms of the transaction, VoiceAge will assign its EVS Patent Portfolio to VoiceAge EVS, LLC, a new company and affiliate of Fortress that will license the VoiceAge EVS Patent Portfolio. "This transaction with Fortress advances our strategic objective of diversifying revenues from our IP assets. Fortress has a thorough understanding of patent assets and recognizes the great value of our EVS Patents Portfolio. We are delighted that Fortress will be offering the VoiceAge EVS technology to the market,” added Mr. Desjardins.
About VoiceAge Corporation
VoiceAge is a key scientific contributor to more than 9 wideband speech and audio standard-based codecs adopted by 3GPP, 3GPP2, ETSI, ITU and MPEG. VoiceAge is also well known for its successful licensing and monetization programs, most notably for the AMR-WB, AMR-WB+ and Extended HE-AAC patent portfolios. VoiceAge has developed a patent portfolio of more than 800 patents and patent applications. VoiceAge is also fully involved in the development of the future 3GPP codec Standard for Immersive Voice and Audio Services ("IVAS"). For additional information, please visit www.voiceage.com.
