The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Standards Association (IEEE-SA) has revised its IP (Intellectual Property) policy concerning commitments from holders of Standard Essential Patents. Under the revised policy, patent holders are required to make licences for Standard Essential Patents available to other parties on Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory (RAND) terms.<\/p>\n
The most significant amendment concerns injunctive relief. The revised policy provides that a patent holder shall not seek or enforce an injunction against an entity that implements a product incorporating the patent holder’s Standard Essential Patent(s), solely on the ground that the implementing entity has failed to agree on terms or to participate or comply in adjudication proceedings relating to the licensing terms between the two parties.<\/p>\n
The policy previously left the meaning of a “reasonable term” undefined, leaving it to the parties to negotiate. The revised policy now supplies a definition. The relevant passage from the policy reads:<\/p>\n
“Reasonable Rate” shall mean appropriate compensation to the patent holder for the practice of an Essential Patent Claim excluding the value, if any, resulting from the inclusion of that Essential Patent Claim’s technology in the IEEE Standard<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Significance for the Telecommunications Industry<\/h2>\n
The revisions are expected to reduce litigation in the telecommunications industry, where patent disputes over Standard Essential Patents have been particularly frequent. By requiring parties to make a genuine attempt to reach a licensing agreement before a patent holder may approach a court for injunctive relief, the policy creates a structured pre-litigation negotiation obligation.<\/p>\n
US Department of Justice Approval<\/h2>\n
The updated policy has received the approval of the US Department of Justice (DOJ).<\/p>\n
Disclaimer<\/h2>\n
This article is for general information and does not constitute legal advice. Readers should consult a qualified attorney before acting on any matter discussed here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
IEEE has amended its IP policy for Standard Essential Patents, requiring RAND licensing and setting limits on injunctions. The clarified definition of reasonable terms is expected to reduce litigation and encourage fair negotiations in the telecommunications industry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":26,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,22,14],"tags":[3778,127,158,6990,1087,7456,6992],"class_list":["post-20979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-intellectual-property","category-ip-commercialization-licensing","category-patents","tag-ieee","tag-patent-licensing","tag-patent-litigation","tag-rand-terms","tag-standard-essential-patents","tag-telecommunications-law","tag-us-department-of-justice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20979"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20979\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":149728,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20979\/revisions\/149728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}