Published: April 26, 2018
Publisher: Lexology
Price differentiation is a topical issue. The increasing use of pricing algorithms offers the potential for companies to engage in ‘personalized’ pricing on a mass scale, offering different prices to different consumers based on an algorithmic assessment of the highest price each individual is likely to pay. But they may also facilitate anti-competitive price coordination and so could give rise to concerns (see here and here).
Similarly, as the Internet of Things and 5G lead to new market entrants requiring SEP licenses, it will be important for licensors to consider how to charge different licensees different prices without infringing the non-discrimination limb of FRAND.