SEP Essentials

2026 already has been a whirlwind of global activity, including in the world of standards and standard essential patents (SEPs).  The United States has announced its intent “to win the global race for 6G” and obtain “scientific and technological global dominance” ( Global Dominance – The U.S.A.’s Views on Standards and SEPs ). China has further cemented its status as the only country in the world with a well-formulated and consistent strategy and vision around standards and S

On 27 April 2023, the European Commission published its proposal for the Regulation of Standard Essential Patents (“SEP Proposal”).  The SEP Proposal was carefully considered and vetted through the European Union’s ordinary legislative procedures.  Stakeholders and the public were given the opportunity to provide written input and there were more than 70 submissions from businesses, academics and other experts.  It was also reviewed, and comments and suggestions made, by seve

I wanted to revisit the statements made by Qualcomm and Nokia representatives at the Global Standards Leadership Conference about aggregate cellular license amounts.  See my post Global Standards Leadership Conference - Part 3 ( sepessentials.com )  for additional details on what was said during the panel.  To set the stage, according to a report put out last year by IPLytics, one of the hosts of the conference, Qualcomm is ranked no. 2 (behind only Huawei) and Nokia no. 5 in

I have previously posted in depth on the EU’s “Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on standard essential patents and amending Regulation (EU) 2017/1001” (“Proposal”) and recently gave an update on the passage by the EC’s Legal Affairs Committee (“JURI”) of a modified version of the Proposal. [1]   I wanted to take a deeper dive into the modifications to the Proposal (“MP”) considered by JURI. [2] I’ll start by focusing on those aspects of

I have previously posted in depth on the EU’s “Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on standard essential patents and amending Regulation (EU) 2017/1001” (“Proposal”). [1]  I am pleased to report that, on Wednesday (23/1/24 since we’re being European), the EC’s Legal Affairs Committee (“JURI”) adopted a modified version of the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on standard essential patents and amending

Title VI of the Proposal establishes the Center as an avenue for making (potentially global) FRAND determinations. As the Proposal recognizes, we currently have at least two different jurisdictions (the U.K. and China), each of which claim to have the authority to set global FRAND rates and determine world-wide FRAND licenses. You have to ask yourself, do we need yet another forum that purports to have the authority to set global FRAND rates. The answer is yes, maybe, in so