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Standard based patents (as in LTE) are subject to compulsory licensing under FRAND terms. Not all the patents listed are that obvious or easy. For example take
by anuraj 14y ago
Standard based patents (as in LTE) are subject to compulsory licensing under FRAND terms. Not all the patents listed are that obvious or easy. For example take the case of concealed antenna; it took several years of research and millions of dollars to develop the technology.
- drcube 14y agoWhat counts as a standard? Why isn't "swipe to unlock" considered a smart phone standard? What's the difference?
- anuraj 14y agoStandards are set by international bodies (like ETSI) using a specified process which these companies are participants of. As part of the procedure, companies legally authorize the use of their essential patents to be part of a standard. Once this happens, the standard implementors have to pay a specified royalty (usually on a per device basis) from which individual compaies owning the patents get their share based on contribution.
- josephlord 14y agoYes the standards bodies require FRAND licensing conditions. And if the companies did not follow strict procedures (including but not limited to FRAND licensing) to ensure fairness to companies outside the group they would very much be at risk being an illegal anti-competitive group of companies. In the EU at least the punishment for competition law breaches can be up to 10% of global group turnover. However for the same competition law reasons the standards body cannot fix the price of the patent licenses but must leave it to the individual companies to determine what is FRAND. In some cases a 3rd party licensing agency (e.g. MPEG LA) offers to manage the licensing for many companies and operates in the way you describe but even members of the standards group do not have to join which is OK so long as the prices they charge are FRAND.