Published: 4/7/15
No available links. The Summary is based on unofficial English translations.
The State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) is one of the three agencies that enforces the Anti-Monopoly Law (AML). SAIC is responsible for intellectual property issues that arise under the AML. On April 7, 2015, SAIC promulgated a regulation intended to prohibit abuses of intellectual property rights that restrict or eliminate competition. Article 13 of the regulation states:
“An undertaking shall not, when exercising intellectual property rights, eliminate or restrict competition by developing and implementing standards (including the mandatory requirements in national technical specifications, the same hereinafter).
Without justifiable reasons an undertaking with a dominant market position shall not, when developing or implementing standards, carry out the following acts to eliminate or restrict competition:
- Deliberately omitting information on its patent rights or expressly waiving its rights when participating in standard setting, but claiming its patent rights against the standard implementers after the patent is included in the standard; or
- After the patent becomes a standard essential patent (“SEP”), engage in conduct that eliminates or restricts competition by refusing to license implementers, engaging in tying, or imposing other unreasonable conditions in violation of the fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory principle.”
For purposes of this regulation, a “standard essential patent” refers to a patent “that is essential to implement the standard.”
No other guidance from SAIC on Article 13 is currently available.