The following is a guest blog written by Timothy Muris, a Foundation Professor of Law at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School and Senior Counsel at Sidley Austin LLP. The smartphone is a testament to the creative minds and herculean cooperation that transformed our personal and professional lives. Yet more than 250,000 patents may be used in a single smartphone, revealing the thicket of patents companies must navigate to bring new innovations to market in patent-intensive industries. The [...]

Washington, D.C. – Today, a broad group of companies and organizations representing the auto and technology industries sent a letter to the White House to raise awareness of the growing danger of standards essential patent (SEP) abuse and expressed support for government action against anti-competitive licensing practices involving SEPs. The letter was signed by 15 companies and organizations including ACT | The App Association, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, Dell, Hewlett-Packard (HP), Intel, Samsung, and VIZIO. Technological [...]

Technical standardization can involve the integration of hundreds, thousands or even tens of thousands of technologies, many of which are protected by patents.  Such “standard essential patents” (SEPs) are subject to a variety of unique contract and competition law issues and considerations.  To support access to and use of standards, and to restrict abuses, many standards-setting organizations (SSOs) require that participants submit binding declarations to offer licenses to their SEPs on “fair reasonable and non-discriminatory” (FRAND) terms. [...]

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently filed a lawsuit against Qualcomm accusing it of violating the patent licensing commitments it made to prominent standards-setting organizations in order to maintain its monopoly on the chips used in cellphones and other mobile devices. This FTC action has attracted significant media attention. Its outcome will provide helpful guidance on the importance of the FRAND licensing commitment. These commitments will become increasingly important with the “internet of things” (IoT) as more vertical sectors [...]

Last week, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a lawsuit against Qualcomm accusing the company of using anticompetitive tactics, including reneging on patent licensing commitments to maintain its monopoly on a critical chip used in mobile devices. The FTC's action against Qualcomm reflects the emerging consensus among competition regulators that violating commitments to license standard essential patents (SEPs) under fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms can pose a significant threat to competition. The FTC correctly understands the commitments made within the [...]

On Wednesday, December 28, 2016, the Korea Fair Trade Commission’s (KFTC) Anti-Monopoly Bureau issued a decision imposing sanctions against Qualcomm Incorporated (Qualcomm) in the amount of 1.03 trillion Korean Won (approximately $865 million USD) for alleged violations of Korean competition laws. After conducting a comprehensive investigation that spanned for more than a year and issuing its examination report to Qualcomm on November 13, 2015, the KFTC found that Qualcomm, as a Standard Essential Patent (SEP) holder, breached its Fair [...]

Much of the public is aware that a number of controversies swirl around the treatment of patents. However, due to the high-powered litigation surrounding these disputes between large companies with household recognition (and the sometimes staggering damage awards that grab headlines), some may perceive this as simply another front in the wars between these mega corporations fought by armies of attorneys that do not relate to or impact small- and medium-sized companies. In reality, the legal and [...]

Recently, the Department of Justice’s Antitrust division (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a request for comment on proposed updates to their Antitrust Guidelines for the Licensing of Intellectual Property (Guidelines). Last updated in 1995, the guidelines are intended to provide clarity on potential antitrust issues that may arise in the context of intellectual property licenses. DOJ/FTC have recognized the valuable role of this guidance, and the need for it to be updated to account [...]

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) 1995 Antitrust Guidelines for the Licensing of Intellectual Property have, for the past 21 years, helped attorneys and businesses identify and steer clear of potential antitrust issues in their IP licensing arrangements. While the Guidelines do not themselves have the force of law, they are reliable indicators of when the principal U.S. antitrust enforcement agencies will, or will not, challenge private IP licensing transactions. This month, [...]

In recent years, lawsuits involving standards-essential patents (SEPs) have made headlines around the world, fueling a heated public debate regarding the role and impact of SEPs covering key interoperability standards. Enforcement agencies in the U.S., Europe and Asia have prosecuted alleged violations of competition law and private licensing commitments in connection with SEPs. But while this debate has broadly targeted standardization and patents in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector, regulators and commentators have paid little [...]

ACT | The App Association Senior Counsel Brian Scarpelli discusses the growing threat of FRAND abuse and what it means to small and midsize tech firms including app developers. In this webinar from August 2016, Scarpelli covers the basics of technical standards, standards essential patents, FRAND licensing and the ways in which some SEP holders are abusing their privileged positions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_NAvqXxDbo

The Internet of Things (IoT) requires seamless interconnectivity among hardware and software products which can only be achieved through technological standards like WiFi, LTE, Bluetooth, etc. However, it is up to regulatory bodies to ensure that standards’ holders do not exploit their unearned market power to overcharge licensees, ACT | The App Association described in comments to the National Telecommunications and Information Association (NTIA) on June 2, 2016, in response to a request for public comment titled The Benefits, Challenges, [...]

A balanced patent system is critical to promoting innovation by rewarding inventors while also ensuring they are not inappropriately compensated for the market power they gain from standardizing their technologies. An imbalance in the system is created when holders of standard-essential patents (SEPs) disregard their affirmative promises to license their SEPs on reasonable terms. That impact is especially acute for emerging small businesses and innovators. Competition law has an important role in deterring and remedying breaches of [...]

Recently, the Government of India’s Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) issued a request for comment on its “Discussion Paper on Standard Essential Patents and Their Availability on FRAND Terms”. In inviting comments, DIPP noted its goal of “develop[ing] a suitable policy framework to define the obligations of [Standard] Essential Patent [SEP] holders and their licensees.” On April 22, 2016, ACT | The App Association submitted detailed comments to DIPP. This blog post provides context on [...]

As I have discussed in previous blog posts, the technical standards developed across a range of standards bodies for countless economic sectors and sub-sectors seek to enable interoperability among all industry participants. These standards bodies desire that an implementer can use the standard under predictable licensing terms even when it includes contributions covered by (sometimes hundreds of) patents. If even technology covered by a single patent is contributed (and accepted through the consensus process) into such a [...]

When you peruse the AllThingsFRAND.com site, you will find judicial and regulatory developments around the globe on the meaning of the obligation to license standard essential patents (SEPs) on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms. In just the last 15 months, China, Japan, and Korea have each released key guidance documents that now treat certain breaches of FRAND commitments as potential violations of their respective antitrust laws. This blog post summarizes the FRAND related content of these [...]

The convergence of computing and mobile technologies continues to change our lives. A broad swatch of industries are coming together to build an “Internet of Things.” The entire ecosystem is focused on seamlessly stitching together our homes, cars, phones and watches in ways that will create endless opportunities to improve our healthcare, safety, and lifestyles. That seamless interconnectivity is made possible by technological standards, like WiFi, 4G, Bluetooth, etc., that are often developed collaboratively between several companies [...]