Standards-Essential Patents Under Fire

Colin Harrington, Associate, KramerAmado
EETimes (10/7/2013 08:15 AM EDT)

Standards Essential Patents (SEPs) have been involved in several recent high-profile cases that call into question their value and the business model of joining standards-setting organizations.

A patent becomes an SEP when compliance with a standard necessitates licensing or infringing the patent. Standards groups require companies to license SEPs on fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory (FRAND) terms.

In one prominent case, Motorola is asking the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit for damages or an injunction against Apple for infringing its SEP No. 6,359,898. Judge Richard Posner of the District Court for the Seventh Circuit ruled earlier that Motorola could not prove damages, because its expert's method was unreliable for determining a FRAND royalty, and Motorola had waived the possibility of an injunction by agreeing to license the patent on FRAND terms.

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