A report from the IEEE Patent Committee (PatCom) meeting suggests IEEE is considering the unprecedented step of amending FRAND commitments after they were submitted. While I can’t imagine how such action is possible, I can...more
After lots of coverage of the IEEE and a long pause, the humble blog author begs your apology for not providing the latest update – as he has been busy dealing with other pressing matters. That said, it is important to...more
Good news for those concerned about the integrity of international standards. On March 24, 2023 the International Organization for Standardization (“ISO”) / International Electrotechnical Commission (“IEC”) JTC-1 Plenary in...more
I have written extensively about the many negative effects of the 2015 IEEE patent policy and it was gratifying to see the US Department of Justice (DOJ) acknowledging these negative effects (p9). In recent months, new data...more
The IEEE’s spectacularly misguided 2015 revisions to its IP policy continues to disappoint (I addressed them a number of times previously). For those who are following the situation there are a number of interesting new...more
I’ve written here before about the broad adverse effects of the 2015 IEEE patent-devaluing policy. In September this year, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) also picked up on these effects in a supplemental business review...more
In the highly contentious world of SEP licensing, one of the biggest debates in recent years has been between advocates of compulsory “access to all” and the existing “license to all” Regimes. Framed as such, this is an...more
Last year, I described the broad negative and anticompetitive consequences of the IEEE’s 2015 patent policy, and was pleased to see the U.S. Department of Justice’s important 2020 Business Review Letter to IEEE (“DOJ BRL”)...more
I find it fascinating that lawyers and other lobbyists involved with SEPs get so worked up in their policy preferences that they start to have blinders that automatically insert their preferences into texts where those...more
On September 10, the antitrust division of US Department of Justice (DOJ) took the unusual step of revising a 2015 business review letter it had sent to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)....more
Earlier this month the U.S. Department of Justice issued an updated Business Review Letter (BRL) for the IEEE patent policy. The new letter offers an important clarification on how antitrust analysis of standards...more
Last Thursday, September 10, 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division (“DOJ”) issued an updated Business Review Letter (“2020 Letter”) to the Institute of Electrical Electronics Engineers, Incorporated...more
Recently, the Department of Justice issued a business review letter (BRL) relating to Avanci’s proposed 5G licensing platform for patents declared as potentially essential owned by its globally diverse thirty eight...more
Kilpatrick Townsend’s Rich Christiansen was the featured speaker at the recent ACC San Diego Technology Roundtable: Turning a Black Swan into a Golden Goose. He led a case-study discussion using the U.S. Supreme Court Alice...more
On July 30 the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a significant appellate decision that provides guidance regarding obligations imposed on licensors of patents that are required to comply with interoperability...more
Standard essential patent (SEP) owners have long licensed their patent portfolios, including both SEPs and non-SEPs, on a global basis. But recent divergence, including in China and other jurisdictions, regarding what royalty...more
On April 14 in Washington, DC, Global Competition Review hosted its Second Annual IP & Antitrust USA conference. The conference covered various hot topics being closely followed by IP antitrust practitioners, including (1)...more
On February 8, 2015, the Board of Governors of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (“IEEE”) approved changes to the IEEE Patent Policy that provide additional specificity as to the nature of the obligation...more
DOJ’s Approval of Revisions to IEEE’s Standard-Setting Policies Provides Guidance for SSOs, Patent Holders, Licensees and Courts - On Feb. 2, 2015, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a business review letter that...more
On February 8, 2015, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) adopted a new patent policy for standards-essential patents (SEPs) in IEEE standards. This comes in the midst of rapid developments in the high...more
The Department of Justice (the “Department” or “DOJ”) continued its multi-pronged defense of standards-setting organizations (SSOs) who adopt patent policies to prevent hold-up during licensing negotiations. Last week’s...more
On February 2, 2015, the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a business review letter stating that it would not challenge the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.’s (IEEE’s)...more
DOJ recently concluded that a standard-setting organization's proposal to update its policy regarding patents underlying its standards was pro-competitive. DOJ's analysis of the association's process and legal structure...more