Program agenda:
- SEP and FRAND terminology, the concepts of essentiality and reasonable royalties
- What universities need to know and put into practice to comply with the new regulations
- Impact on licensees and licensors
- How different courts approach litigation relating to SEPs
- How the EU SEP regulation could affect the SEP landscape
- Recent cases of SEP litigation at the Unified Patent Court
Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) are at the heart of many of today’s indispensable technologies, from cell phones, medical devices, and smart energy to drones and video streaming. Courts around the world have been tasked with determining whether specific patents are essential to particular standards and establishing allowable royalty rates for licensing such patents.
Against this background, the European Parliament recently voted in favour of a new European regulation for SEPs, and these new measures appear headed for European Commission approval. The regulations are aimed at improving transparency in SEPs to facilitate licensing negotiations and reduce the number of court proceedings around SEP disputes, and stakeholders around the world are watching developments in Europe with intense interest.
Much is at stake, from what qualifies as standard essential, SEP royalty rates and allocations, and transparency in patent pools to SEP registration, essentiality checks, and SEP litigation.
