As 5G cellular standards continue to connect billions of smartphones, automobiles, and IoT devices, the licensing of standard essential patents (“SEPs”) has emerged as a key interest of businesses and policymakers globally. SEPs represent tens of billions in economic value, while the standards they comprise are key to unlocking the next generation of many technologies such as 6G communications and autonomous vehicles.
Accordingly, governments are closely scrutinizing SEPs and proposing new regulations. In February 2024, the European Parliament took a significant step by approving a proposed regulation of SEPs that establishes an out-of-court procedure to determine licensing conditions and aggregate licensing royalties for a standard. While approved by the European Parliament, the proposed regulation still needs to be negotiated and approved by EU member states.
Meanwhile, SEP litigation continues across the globe. In November 2023, a court in Chongqing, China set global licensing rates for SEPs in the case Nokia v. Oppo, granting Chinese companies a significant discount and marking the first time a Chinese court issued a decision on SEP global licensing rates.
Please join CSIS and LeadershIP on Monday, July 29th from 12:30pm - 1:30pm ET for a panel discussion moderated by Dr. Kirti Gupta, CSIS Senior Adviser and Executive Director LeadershIP, exploring the connection between these developments in global regulation and litigation of SEPs, and what’s coming next. Dr. Gupta will be joined by Mark Cohen, Research Fellow with the UC-Berkeley Haas Business School and former Senior Intellectual Property Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, David Long, Founder and Managing Director at Essential Patent LLC, Eric Stasik, Founder and Managing Director at Avvika, and Matthew Noble, Partner and Head of Patent Intelligence at Bird and Bird. CSIS Senior Adviser and former director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Andrei Iancu will give opening remarks.
This event is made possible through general support to CSIS.
