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As part of the European Commission’s (EC) initiative titled ‘Intellectual property – new framework for standard essential patents’, the EC has now published a call for evidence and a public consultation on standard essential patents (SEPs). This planned consultation was mentioned in our earlier article reporting the UK Intellectual Property Office’s call for views on SEPs, which is ongoing until 1 March 2022.
The call for evidence and public consultation provide the opportunity for stakeholders to provide their views on aspects of SEPs and SEP licensing that are deemed important for developing an efficient licensing framework.
The call for evidence and public consultation opened on Monday 14th February 2022 and will run in parallel until the closing date of Monday 9th May 2022 (midnight Brussels time).
With the call for evidence, the EC is seeking views on the main problem areas with the current licensing framework.
The public consultation seeks to gather input on more specific questions relating to SEP licensing and the SEP licensing framework. More particularly, questions pertain to elements deemed to be most important in developing a future framework, namely (i) transparency, (ii) the concept of licensing on FRAND terms and conditions, including the level of licensing, and (iii) effective enforcement.
Feedback from stakeholders will be used to feed the initiative and will build on other EC SEP activities, including a communication on ‘Setting out an EU approach to SEPs’, a number of studies related to standardisation and patents, and creation of an expert group on licensing and valuation of SEPs.
The EC is particularly interested to hear views from any stake holders that have experience with SEPs, including SEP holders, SEP implementers, academics, industry associations and SMEs.
If you would like to provide your views then more information on the initiative and how to provide feedback can be found here.
The article authors will continue to monitor developments with interest and will report any significant updates.
If you would like to discuss this topic, you can contact the writers, or another member of our expert electrical team.
Category: Latest Insights | Author: Nikesh Patel | Published: | Read more
