Event Information

Standard Essential Patent (SEP) litigation including FRAND licensing and related competition law issues has been a prevalent feature of global patent litigation for the past couple of decades.
Most recently, a number of significant cases have generated precedents in this complex and constantly evolving area.

New business models such as SEP portfolio divestments and an increased use by SEP holders of Non Practising Entities to enforce their SEP portfolios are also recent trends.

This workshop will look at the most recent developments in this field, including a detailed look at the first EU and UK FRAND judgments (once available) and what all this means for an increasingly connected world.

If you are involved in negotiating or drafting licences covering SEPs; litigating SEPs; advising companies with SEP portfolios or advising companies whose products may be affected by SEP rights, then this course is for you.

What you will learn

The workshop will cover the following topics:

• The Basics
  • SEPs and standards
  • FRAND / RAND commitments
    • Article 6 of the ETSI IPR Policy in focus
    • SSO / EU Commission guidance and initiatives
• The competition law framework and standards (Article 101 and 102, TFEU)

• The Case Law
• Huawei v ZTE CJEU judgment
  • Availability of an injunction for SEPs
  • Offer acceptance framework
  • Open questions remaining
• Subsequent national decisions in particular UK’s Unwired Planet v Huawei et al

• What’s next…?
  • Continuing EU Commission initiatives
  • IoT – increasing reach of standards
  • SEPs and the UPC?