FSA Position Paper: Coerced Global SEP Portfolio Licences Are Not FRAND

Brussels, October 26, 2020 – The Fair Standards Alliance supports a balance of interests among standardisation ecosystem participants, including the holders of standard essential patents (SEPs), prospective SEP licensees and consumers. This Position Paper explores global SEP portfolio licences and why there should be no right to use an SEP in one jurisdiction to compel licences to other declared SEPs in other jurisdictions.

As set forth below, tactics to force a potential licensee to pay for unneeded or disputed patents as a condition for obtaining an SEP licence are unfair and unreasonable. A licensee should be able to request and obtain fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) licence terms for agreed-upon SEPs while retaining the right to forgo additional licences or pursue challenges to other patents the holder designates as standard-essential.

Coercive tactics to force licensees into global SEP portfolio licences, or legal rules that force licensees into global portfolio adjudications within a single jurisdiction, dilute the rights of licensees, undermine the ability to test patent applicability and quality, tread upon national and international interests in enforcing intellectual property laws, and harm the production and dissemination of standardised technologies to the detriment of consumers.

 

 

Download the full position paper here.

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