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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 | [...]
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 [...]
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] [...]