What are Standards Essential Patents?
Standards Essential Patents (SEPs) cover technological inventions necessary to satisfy a technical standard. Think, for example, of MP3 music compression technology.
Why Anyone Must Be Able to License SEPs
Essentially, everyone needs to license patents covering aspects of the standard.
Essentially, everyone needs to license patents covering aspects of the standard. So it is critical that everyone has a reasonable opportunity to license the patent at a reasonable, non-discriminatory fee. This is the FRAND license.
Global Licensing Rates
Naturally, some bad actors try to circumvent that arrangement, by seeking excessive rates from potential licensees. And that problem has historically been compounded by different rules in different jurisdictions.
In August 2020 the U.K. Supreme Court took a giant step towards international conformity. It held that English courts have the power to set global licensing rates for multinational patent portfolios under European telecom standards!