By Igor Nikolic*   Since the automotive sector chose to incorporate cellular standards (2G to 5G) in its vehicles, there have been tensions between car manufacturers and the owners of patents essential to these standards (SEPs). This article briefly explains the background of these licensing disputes, the use and value of cellular standards for modern […]

By Dr. Kirti Gupta & Fabian Gonell*   In recent years, the widespread success enjoyed by some technology standards, especially wireless cellular standards, have led policy makers to pay closer attention to the interface of standards and Intellectual Property Rights (“IPRs”). One of the issues is a call for greater transparency related to patents that […]

By Igor Nikolic* & Niccolò Galli†   The EU Institutions have been interested in improving the predictability, reliability and transparency of the standard-essential patent (“SEP”) licensing framework, as evidenced by several reports and communications over the recent years.1 In 2017, the European Commission committed to setting up an expert group (“EG”) to monitor SEP licensing […]

By Andrew C. Finch & Stefan Geirhofer1   Antitrust and patent law have complementary objectives: both are “aimed at encouraging innovation, industry and competition.”2  Abraham Lincoln once observed that an inventor would gain “no special advantage from his own invention” if others could instantly use it.3  By securing the exclusive use of an invention for […]

By James F. Rill, John M. Taladay & Stacy L. Turner (Baker Botts)*   The Antitrust Division has taken definitive steps in the past several years to delineate the relationship between the antitrust laws and intellectual property rights. The most recent of these steps was to supplement the Business Review Letter (“BRL”) the Division originally […]

By Haris Tsilikas, LLM (Max Planck Institute)1   I. Introduction The development of innovative standards hinges on a vibrant ecosystem of standardization inducing private investment by allowing contributors to earn a fair return on investment through the licensing of their standard-essential patents (“SEPs”), and by providing implementers with enforceable assurances that those SEPs will be […]