Calif. Judge, in First-of-Its-Kind Ruling, Sets FRAND Rate on Ericsson Patent Portfolio
Published: December 28, 2017
Publisher: Law.com
U.S. District Judge James Selna of the Central District of California has concluded a mammoth trial over FRAND royalties by more than halving the rates Swedish telecom Ericsson was seeking from China’s TCL Communication, the world’s seventh largest smartphone maker.
Comparing EU And US Standard-Essential Patent Guidance
Published: December 28, 2017
Publisher: Lexology
In Nov. 29, 2017, the European Commission published its long-awaited guidance (found here) on litigating and licensing standard-essential patents (SEPs). The commission is charged with enforcing the European Union’s competition laws. The communication is part of broader efforts in the EU to bolster European intellectual property rights, and follows a series of similar efforts in the related fields of trademarks and copyrights. In the patent context, readers may also […]
Trade Agency to Partly Review Order in Sony-Fujifilm Patent Fight
Published: December 13, 2017
Publisher: Bloomberg BNA
“The International Trade Commission said it would partially review an initial ruling that Sony Corp. infringed two Fujifilm Corp. magnetic tape patents, opening the door for the agency to provide guidance on enforcing patents essential to widely used technology standards.
An ITC administrative law judge found in September that Sony infringed the two patents, but not three others. Both companies are aggressively vying for control of the market for mass data storage under the […]
EU guidelines on standard-essential patents favor product-centric businesses large and small
Published: December 12, 2017
Publisher: FOSS Patents
“Given that I’m working hard on my personal “Flexit,” I’m the exact opposite of your average “EU über alles” kind of claquEUr. But when the EU does something right, I’ll acknowledge it. The “Communication from the [EU] Commission to the [EU] Institutions on Setting out the EU approach to Standard[-]Essential Patents” (published the week before last) is by far the best I’ve seen from the European Commission, or any EU institution, in ages.”
The ongoing problem with standards and patents
Published: December 7, 2017
Publisher: Lexology
“Industry standards are an important tool to ensure that consistent, compatible approaches are adopted by all participants in a particular field. For example, in industries such as electronics and telecommunications, there is a need to ensure interoperability and compatibility of products made by competing manufacturers. This improves competition between manufacturers, and increases the usefulness of products in the market.”
Inside IP: The EU Approach To Standard Essential Patents
Published: December 7, 2017
Publisher: Mondaq
“In April 2016, the European Commission identified three areas of the SEP licensing environment that needed improvement: (1) opaque information on SEP exposure (2) unclear valuation of patented technologies reading on standards and the definition of FRAND and (3) the risk of uncertainty in relation to enforcement of SEPs. It has now issued its much anticipated guidance aiming to create a coherent framework, given the standardisation of 5G and the Internet of Things.”