Two Recent FRAND Papers

1. Valerio Torti has published a paper titled Worldwide FRAND licences in global patent litigation, 44 EIPR 575 (2022).  Here is the abstract:

A new front has recently emerged in SEP global battles, concerning the legitimacy of judicially determining FRAND worldwide royalties despite the absence of consent of all parties involved. The Unwired Planet decision in the UK, as well as other disputes in the EU and Asia, have given rise to such a new judicial trend in the context of standard essential patents litigation. But should national courts be allowed to embark on a similar comprehensive analysis of the litigants’ global business relationship? After recalling the most recent initiatives adopted at EU, UK and US levels in order to bring more transparency in SEP licensing negotiations, the article will explore the risks and disadvantages of this judicial practice, as also emerged from recent FRAND litigation.

Interesting paper, though the author might have noted that in June the USPTO, DOJ, and NIST withdrew not only the 2019 Policy Statement on Remedies for Standards-Essential Patents Subject to Voluntary F/RAND Commitments (as he notes, see  p.579 n.32), but also the Draft Policy Statement on Licensing Negotiations and Remedies for Standards-Essential Patents Subject to Voluntary F/RAND Commitments.  For discussion on this blog, see here and here.

On a related note, see Florian Mueller's recent post Mission accomplished for Avanci: virtually entire automotive industry licensed to 4G standard-essential patent portfolios of 51 licensors--now on to 5G

2. Damien Geradin has posted a paper on ssrn titled FRAND Royalty Rates for 5G Automotive Licensing.  Here is a link to the paper, and here is the abstract:

This paper discusses the licensing of 5G SEPs by automotive manufacturers, which is an issue that is likely to draw considerable attention in the months and years to come. 4G automotive licensing has been a controversial process, which triggered massive litigation before German patent courts by SEP holders. Unfortunately, these courts left open some important questions, limiting themselves to grant injunctions in case of infringement. The granting of such injunctions left major automotive OEMs operating in Germany with little choice but to taken a license from Avanci, the licensing platform created by a large group of SEP holders. This paper discusses the extent to which 5G will transform the automotive industry in the near future or will take some time to develop its full potential. Based on currently available information – it also examines what would be FRAND aggregated royalty rates for 5G automotive licensing.

On a related note, see Florian Mueller's recent post Mission accomplished for Avanci: virtually entire automotive industry licensed to 4G standard-essential patent portfolios of 51 licensors--now on to 5G.