SEP Essentials

In one of my previous posts, Answers to First Pop Quiz (sepessentials.com) , I reviewed the primary jurisdictions in which SEP cases usually are filed, what makes those jurisdictions popular (or unpopular) for cases filed by SEP holders or by implementers and why each of them is an outlier in its own way. Today, I’m taking a similar look at another emerging jurisdiction – India – and its recent SEP related jurisprudence. For years the conventional wisdom was that it was too

On September 11, 2023, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”), International Trade Administration (“ITA”) and National Institute of Standards and Technology (“NIST”) jointly published a request for comments in the Federal Register seeking input from stakeholders on issues related to standards and intellectual property, especially as they impact small and medium enterprises in critical and emerging technologies. After an extension of time, public comments were due on No

Certain companies, commentators and litigants and, unfortunately on occasion, government agencies repeat the following mantra: there needs to be “balance” between the interests of SEP owners and standard implementers in order to encourage standards development. This mantra includes the claim that innovative companies will not participate in standards development unless they are rewarded by the opportunity to make money through SEP licensing. [1] Yet, there is very little em

There is a persistent narrative in some quarters that you need to “balance” the needs of SEP holders and implementers [1] in order to encourage innovation and standards development. Their point seems to be that large numbers of innovative companies will not participate in standards development unless motivated by the ability to earn big bucks (or other currencies) from licensing their SEPs to implementers. This seems improbable: vanishingly few entities that do not plan to

This is my second post in response to the Department of Commerce of the United States government in conjunction with the U.S. National Institute of Standard and Technology (“NIST”) request for stakeholders and the public to provide input into Implementation of the United States Government National Standards Strategy for Critical and Emerging Technology. [1] This post focuses on when the government should intervene to foster standards development and what other support the g

The Department of Commerce of the United States government in conjunction with the U.S. National Institute of Standard and Technology (“NIST”) has asked stakeholders and the public to provide input into Implementation of the United States Government National Standards Strategy for Critical and Emerging Technology. They have provided a long list of complex questions and a very short time frame for comments. You can find the notice here: https://www.federalregister.gov/docume