Pat Treacy and Matthew Hunt have analysed the key points arising from the Unwired Planet v Huawei ruling, concerning FRAND licences for SEPs (standard essential patents), in an article published by the Journal of Intellectual Property Law and Practice.

Key points in this article include:

• Companies holding standard essential patents (SEPs) are required to license those patents at a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) rate.
• The judgment of the High Court of England and Wales in Unwired Planet v Huawei is very significant: it is the first time an English court has determined a FRAND royalty rate.
• This article unpacks the key findings of the judgment:
  • the enforceability of FRAND
  • the ability of a court to declare that terms are FRAND
  • the existence of only one set of FRAND terms in any given circumstances, (iv) the FRAND obligations placed on SEP holders and implementers, (v) the principle that not all offers made need to be FRAND, (vi) how a FRAND rate can be calculated, (vii) ‘hard-edged’ non-discrimination, (viii) the geographic scope of a FRAND licence, (ix) the availability of injunctive relief and damages and (x) whether an abuse of dominance has been committed.

Read the full article here.