Brussels, April 24, 2019 – Amidst the growing threat to competition and innovation caused by anticompetitive practices related to standard-essential patents (SEPs), an alliance of companies, organizations, and industries demanding regulators and lawmakers that promote open and accessible standards through fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) licensing keeps expanding.
The largest coalition yet has sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) calling for continued support for long-standing bipartisan policies captured in joint Department of Justice-USPTO guidance on SEP licensing from 2013 that promote FRAND licensing and prevent SEP abuse.
The 39 signatories include representatives from the automotive, broadcast, network equipment, retail, semiconductor, software, and telecom industries. This diverse collection of stakeholders represents over USD 100bn annually in R&D spending across a range of industries and own hundreds of thousands of patents (including many SEPs).
Read the full letter here