The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) today announced the convening of its first worldwide board of directors meeting in China, and also announced that the National Radio Monitoring Center has become the SIG's accredited Bluetooth Qualification Test Center. This means that hundreds of Chinese Bluetooth equipment manufacturers will no longer have to send their products overseas for testing. There are 22 Bluetooth qualification test centers worldwide. Dr. McFalley, executive director of the Bluetooth SIG, indicated that manufacturers who pass the tests in China will not have to pay patent licensing fees to the Bluetooth SIG.
China has over 250 Bluetooth equipment manufacturers, with even more smaller manufacturers in Guangdong producing various Bluetooth products. However, very few of them pay patent licensing fees to the Bluetooth SIG.
According to different tiers, manufacturers must pay annual fees of either ten thousand or five thousand US dollars to the test center. In the past, Chinese manufacturers had to send their products overseas for testing. Dr. Song Qizhu, deputy director of the National Radio Monitoring Center, stated that due to localized testing now available in China, manufacturers' transportation and communication costs will significantly decrease. Products tested in China can be directly sold in Europe...