The European Union has proposed new rules: it is forbidden to indiscriminately charge patent fees for necessary technologies such as mobile phones and computers.
According to a report in the morning of March 29, Beijing time, according to the latest draft EU regulations, the EU's patent regulator will be responsible for a new program to set fair patent license fees for technologies widely used in technology such as mobile phones. The purpose of the draft is to reduce the number of lawsuits arising from disputes over royalties.
The so-called "standard must-have patent" refers to the technology that equipment must use in order to comply with international standards, such as 4G, WiFi and USB standards. Some standards involve thousands of basic patents whose owners are required to grant patents to other companies on fair and reasonable terms.
The users of these standards are usually manufacturers of telecommunications equipment, mobile phones, computers, tablets, as well as connected cars, drones, payment terminals and other smart devices. The European intellectual property Office (EUIPO) is responsible for the patent licensing fee process to resolve disputes between patent owners and standard users.
"the procedures for determining the principles of fairness, reasonableness and non-discrimination (FRAND) should be simplified, and negotiations should be accelerated and costs reduced when these provisions are involved," according to the latest European Commission document. EUIPO should manage this process. "
The document said that the process of setting whether patents should comply with FRAND principles should be completed within nine months. At the same time, this is also a compulsory step before the patent owner takes legal action against the infringement. "this is necessary because disagreements over FRAND provisions are the main reason for seeking a solution in court," the document said.
This draft rule requires EUIPO to establish a registration mechanism for "standard essential patents". If the company wants to charge fees for these patents or take legal action based on them, it must register. "unless registered, the owner of the standard essential patent has no right to collect royalties or seek compensation for infringement," the document said. "
To help owners of standard essential patents determine how much patent licensing fees they can charge, the European Commission wants companies to agree on the total patent licensing fees, which will cover the possible costs of all standard essential patents under the same standard. At the same time, an independent evaluation body will assess whether a patent is necessary for the standard.
According to the European Commission's agenda, the vice president of the European Commission, Margaret Vestager (Margerethe Vestager), will publish the draft on April 26. The draft also needs to be approved by EU countries and the European Parliament before a law can be formed.
