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2006.12.06

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ACCESS  Licenses Palm OS Garnet™ Source Code to Palm, Inc.

  • ACCESS, owner of Palm OS, grants non-exclusive source code license
  • Both companies committed to ensuring forward compatibility of future applications
  • Agreement benefits licensees and developers

SUNNYVALE, Calif., December 6, 2006 – ACCESS Systems Americas, Inc., a member of the ACCESS CO., LTD., group of companies, today announced it has entered into a non-exclusive agreement with Palm, Inc., that gives Palm a perpetual license for the Palm OS® Garnet® source code. ACCESS and Palm have also agreed to an expansion of the two companies’ existing patent license. Palm will pay ACCESS a total of $44 million (USD).

Under terms of the agreement, ACCESS has granted Palm specific rights to modify the code base of Palm OS Garnet for use in its devices such as the Palm Treo smartphone family and the company’s other handheld computers. The agreement also grants Palm the right to use Palm OS Garnet in whole, or in part, in any product from Palm and together with any other system technologies. To ensure forward-compatibility of Palm OS Garnet applications, ACCESS and Palm have agreed to continue to measure compatibility against the compatibility test harness in use between the two companies.

“ACCESS remains strongly committed to supporting its Palm OS licensees and developers. We are also committed to preserving and furthering the pioneering legacy of our operating system,” said Jeanne Seeley, CEO of ACCESS Systems Americas, Inc. “This agreement gives Palm more flexibility as it designs new devices while also enabling Palm OS Garnet developers to preserve their current investment in applications for Palm OS Garnet-based devices. We are pleased Palm has extended its commitment to the Palm OS platform and we look forward continuing to work with them.”

About ACCESS Systems Americas, Inc. and ACCESS CO., LTD.
ACCESS Systems Americas, Inc. (formerly PalmSource, Inc.), is the Company behind Palm OS®, a leading operating system powering mobile devices and phones. More than 40 million Palm OS-based mobile phones, handhelds, and other mobile devices have been sold worldwide.

As a member of the ACCESS CO., LTD., group of companies, ACCESS Systems Americas is continuing to evolve the legacy and heritage of Palm OS with its next generation operating system—the ACCESS Linux® Platform. The ACCESS Linux Platformis the industry’s first fully integrated, commercial grade Linux-based operating system for mobile phones and devices. The ACCESS Linux Platform includes compatibility with Palm OS® Garnet® through its GHost (Garnet Host) layer. ACCESS has publicly demonstrated that most properly written 68K Palm OS applications will run on ACCESS Linux® Platform-based devices with little or no modification.

ACCESS CO., LTD. is a global company providing leading technology, software products and platforms for web browsing, mobile phones, wireless handhelds and other networked devices. ACCESS’ product portfolio, including its NetFront browser,

Palm OS® and the ACCESS Linux Platform provide customers with solutions that enable faster time-to-market, flexibility and customizability. The Company, headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, operates 29 subsidiaries and affiliates within Asia, Europe and the United States. ACCESS is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers Index under the number 4813.

For more information about ACCESS, please visit www.access-company.com/

Note to Editors: For an FAQ regarding this licensing agreement please visit:
https://gl.access-company.com/developers/press/palm_faq/


Copyright © 2006, ACCESS Systems Americas, Inc. (formerly PalmSource, Inc.)
ACCESS, NetFront, Garnet and certain other trade names, trademarks and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of ACCESS CO., LTD. and ACCESS Systems Americas, Inc., which may be registered in Japan, the United States, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and other countries.

PalmSource, Palm OS, Palm Powered and certain other trade names, trademarks and logos are trademarks which may be registered in the United States, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and other countries and are either owned by ACCESS Systems Americas, Inc. or its affiliates, or are licensed exclusively to ACCESS Systems Americas, Inc. by Palm Trademark Holding Company, LLC. These marks may not be used in connection with any product or service that does not belong to ACCESS Systems Americas, Inc. (except as expressly permitted by a license with ACCESS Systems Americas, Inc.), in any manner that is likely to cause confusion among customers, or in any manner that disparages or discredits ACCESS Systems Americas, Inc., its licensor, its subsidiaries or affiliates.

The registered trademark LINUX® is owned by Linus Torvalds, owner of the mark in the U.S. and other countries, and licensed exclusively to the Linux Mark Institute.

All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

ACCESS Linux Platform and GHost (Garnet Host) are codenames subject to change upon release of the final product without prior notice, in the sole discretion of ACCESS CO., LTD., ACCESS Systems Americas, Inc., or the applicable third party.

All rights reserved.