Motorola Appeal to ANSI Appeals Board for VITA/VSO Reaccreditation is Dismissed

SCOTTSDALE, AZ, January 24, 2008 — VITA, the trade association dedicated to fostering American National Standards Institute (ANSI) accredited, open system architectures in critical embedded system applications was notified by ANSI that the latest appeal filed by Motorola on the decision by ANSI to reaccredit the procedures of VITA/VSO has been dismissed.

Motorola originally appealed to the ANSI Executive Standards Council (ExSC) Panel, who denied the appeal and affirmed the original decision made by the ExSC to reaccredit the procedures of VITA/VSO to include ex-ante policy. A second appeal was made per the ANSI appeals process to the ANSI Appeals Board. The appeals statement and supporting documentation that was submitted by Motorola in connection with this appeal, together with the appeals material originally before the ANSI Executive Standards Council, was provided to the members of the ANSI Appeals Board via letter ballot. The letter ballot was issued in accordance with clause 11 Appeals process of the ANSI Appeals Board Operating Procedures in order for the members to determine “whether the appellant has established a prima facie case that the decision appealed from was clearly erroneous.”

The ANSI Appeals Board Panel decided, based on the record before it, that the appeals statement and record did not establish such a prima facie case. Accordingly, the ANSI Appeals Board dismissed the appeal without an appeals hearing. This decision completes the appeals processes available at ANSI.

“This has been a long, arduous, and tedious process”, stated Ray Alderman, executive director at VITA, “But, we persevered in spite of the time, difficulty, and expense.” The policy changes to accommodate ex-ante prevailed through formal reviews by the US Department of Justice, the US Federal Trade Commission, and ANSI. Mr. Alderman went on to say, “Others are likely to follow us and adopt similar patent policies.”

VITA is breaking new ground in the area of disclosure and licensing of patents in standards, becoming the first standards developer in the world to receive guidance for 'ex ante' procedures from any legal authority. This process started in 2006 and is well documented; visit the VITA website at www.vita.com/disclosure for full details and a timeline of events. The latest response from ANSI can also be found at this location.

About VITA

Founded in 1984, VITA is an incorporated, non-profit organization of suppliers and users who share a common market interest in critical embedded systems. VITA champions open system architectures. Its activities are international in scope, technical, promotional and user-centric. VITA aims to increase total market size for its members, expand market exposure for suppliers, and deliver timely technical information. VITA has ANSI and IEC accreditation to develop standards (VME, VXS, VPX, XMC, etc) for embedded systems used in a myriad of critical applications and harsh environments. For further information, visit www.vita.com.