History

While today SISVEL is a truly independent company, it has deep roots in the consumer electronics industry since its incorporation in 1982 as a joint venture among the principal Italian manufacturers of television sets. Roberto Dini, SISVEL's founder, incorporated the new company together with a small group of his colleagues from Indesit, one of Italy’s largest television manufacturers at the time, to acquire and manage Indesit's portfolio of television related patents. 

This patent portfolio was developed by Indesit's  labs and included patents covering significant innovations such as the On Screen Display ("OSD"), the menu of operation for television sets and video recorders, as well as a number of patents on improvements for tuning technologies. 

The company was so successful in managing the Indesit patents that major international players in the consumer electronics industry, such as Philips, France Télécom, TDF, and IRT, turned to SISVEL to license some of their most valuable intellectual property, including their patents relating to the MPEG Audio standard (Layers 1, 2, and 3). 

SISVEL was instrumental in securing the adoption of this groundbreaking technology in the marketplace,  while at the same time producing a proper financial return for the developers of the technology.  SISVEL's management of the MPEG Audio licensing program is a prime example of its role in protecting intellectual property rights and highlights the company’s transformation into a global player and leader in the licensing community.