Published: 7/16/15
Publication: Out-Law.com
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has ruled that the owner of a standard-essential patent (SEP) could be abusing its dominant position by bringing a prohibitory injunction against an infringer of that patent if it has not first written to the infringer laying out terms and specifying the royalties that are due.
An SEP is a ‘patent essential to a standard’: it is impossible for competitors to make products that comply with that standard without using the patented technology. The owner of any SEP has undertaken to give licenses to third parties on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms.