Event Session
Litigating Standard Essential Patents
May 16, 2023 @ 2:20 PM EST
2:20 PM ET
May 16, 2023
Litigating Standard Essential Patents
Patent owners are increasingly considering more complex strategies when pursuing implementers. Traditional enforcement approaches often include domestic filings at the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) coupled with a companion district court cases, but some patent owners are engaging a worldwide enforcement strategy when stakes are particularly high.
Much, if not all, SEP litigation centers around the issue of FRAND (which stands for Fair, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory). In short, innovators commit to providing access to patents that are or may become necessary to the implementation of the standard (i.e., standard essential patents) for a FRAND rate. What is a FRAND rate is illusive, to say the least. And in recent years, many of the largest implementers have begun arguing that the FRAND commitment agreed by SEP owners is a “promise” to license, and they are entitled to a FRAND rate even at the conclusion of litigation.
But does the FRAND obligation amount to a promise to license, or is it a promise to negotiate in good faith? And what obligation, if any, do implementers have to negotiate in good faith? And, does the failure to negotiate in good faith, or the choice to willfully infringe, impact the right to FRAND? These and other questions relating to the latest SEP cases worldwide will be discussed by the panel.
Survey
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/litigation-2023-panel-6
