An essential patent or standard-essential patent (SEP) is a patent that claims an invention that must be used to comply with a technical standard. Standard-setting organizations (SSOs) normally require their members to agree to license their essential patents on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms. Determining which patents are essential to a particular standard can be complex.
See also
- Patent ambush, a situation in which patents are withheld during development of a proposed standard
- Patent infringement, the commission of a prohibited act with respect to a patented invention
- Patent thicket, a negatively connoted term for an overlapping set of patent rights
- Orange-Book-Standard, a German decision on the interaction between patent law and technical standards
- Standardization, the process of creating technical standards
Further reading and viewing
- "Potential Antitrust Liability Based on a Patent Owner's Manipulation of Industry Standard Setting", Proceedings of ABA Antitrust Section Spring Meeting (2003) by Janice M. Mueller.
- "Patent Misuse Through the Capture of Industry Standards", 17 Berkeley Tech. L.J. 623 (2002) by Janice M. Mueller.
- Mossoff, Adam; Contreras, Jorge; Kulbaski, James J. (November 30, 2012). Standards-Essential Patents: Where Do IP Protections End and Antitrust Concerns Begin? (video). Washington Legal Foundation. Archived from the original (ASX) on March 3, 2016. Retrieved December 17, 2012.
- Vidal, Kathi (10 April 2022). "Standard essential patent policy and practices: We want to hear from you!". www.uspto.gov. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
References
Shapiro, Carl (January 2000). "Navigating the Patent Thicket: Cross Licenses, Patent Pools, and Standard Setting". Innovation Policy and the Economy. 1: 119–150. doi:10.1086/ipe.1.25056143. ISSN 1531-3468. S2CID 17290328. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdf/10.1086/ipe.1.25056143 ↩
Sidak, J. G. (1 December 2013). "The Meaning of FRAND, Part I: Royalties". Journal of Competition Law and Economics. 9 (4): 931–1055. doi:10.1093/joclec/nht040. https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fjoclec%2Fnht040 ↩
Elizabeth Woyke (2011-09-21). "Identifying The Tech Leaders In LTE Wireless Patents". Forbes. Retrieved March 10, 2012. https://www.forbes.com/sites/elizabethwoyke/2011/09/21/identifying-the-tech-leaders-in-lte-wireless-patents/ ↩