POS pool hits 30 licensors, royalty rate nears; UPC arbitration centre opens; Commission doubtful on reopening IPRED; WIPO releases FRAND economic report; plus much more

Welcome to the latest edition of the Sisvel Insights weekly round-up, aggregating news stories, analyses and data points affecting the SEP world that have caught our eye over the past seven days.

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Sisvel’s latest patent pool, covering point of sale SEPs, launched at the start of April, with Huawei, LG Electronics and Nokia as its three founder licensors. Since then, there has been a surge of interest in the programme – to the extent that last week it was announced that 30 entities are now making their SEPs available through the pool, with further names set to be added over the coming weeks. The news also gave Sisvel Chief IP Officer Heath Hoglund the opportunity to provide an update on the progress being made to establish the price of taking a programme licence. Both licensors and prospective licensees have been engaged in the process, he explained: “We aim to validate royalty rates that will provide balanced outcomes. We expect to announce comprehensive details of the pool licence offering in the coming months.”

Also last week, the UPC’s Patent Mediation and Arbitration Centre opened for business. As the only alternative dispute resolution forum in the world dedicated solely to patents, with specific provisions dealing with FRAND issues and binding opinions enforceable in all UPC member states, the centre could have a significant impact on SEP disputes. Elsewhere, the European Commission expressed some doubts about reopening the EU’s 20-year-old IP Rights Enforcement Directive; and WIPO released a new report on how FRAND terms for SEP licensing can be determined.

Please note that the inclusion of a piece in the list below does not signify agreement with what is stated in the linked article – just that we believe it is of interest and worth flagging.

Market

The Sisvel POS patent pool has reached 30 licensors, and the programme team is actively engaging with implementers. Read more (Sisvel newsroom)

MediaTek has recently acquired patents from LG Electronics, Alibaba and NEC. Read more (ip fray) 🔒

Legal

The UPC’s Patent Mediation and Arbitration Centre was inaugurated in Ljubljana, Slovenia, on 2 June. Read more (PMAC website news). See also IAM🔒

ASUSTeK licensing agent Celerity IP has sued Oppo at the Delhi High Court, expanding a cellular SEP litigation campaign beyond Europe for the first time. Read more (IAM) 🔒

The UPC’s appellate court has overturned the ruling in the Kodak v Fujifilm long-arm case but upheld the lower court’s decision to accept jurisdiction over the alleged infringement of the UK portion of the asserted patent. Read more (IAM) 🔒

Policy & Opinion

The European Commission is sceptical about reopening the EU’s IP enforcement directive, despite calls from some MEPs to look again at proportionality and injunctions in patent lawsuits. Read more (MLex) 🔒. See also ip fray

China has published draft guidelines for administrative patent adjudication and mediation – a mechanism already used by Huawei to settle several SEP disputes. Read more (PRIP Research)

Legislation has been proposed in Brazil that would introduce targeted mechanisms to deter and respond to foreign anti-suit and interim licences that interfere with or seek to neutralise proceedings before the country’s courts. Read more (IP Forefront)

In the event of an impasse between an SEP licensor and licensee, mediation can provide a forum for more constructive discussions and help to pave a realistic path towards resolution. Read more (Patricio Delgado, LinkedIn)

US R&D lab Ofinno says that restrictions on out-licensing have locked it out of a USPTO programme designed to encourage standard-setting by SMEs. Read more (IAM) 🔒

Strategy & Analysis

From analogue signals and Teletext to Wi-Fi and codecs, television-related technologies have been central to the Sisvel story. Read more (Sisvel Insights)

WIPO has released an economic report examining how FRAND terms for SEP licensing can be determined. Read more (WIPO)

Patent pool rates are generally regarded as FRAND or even sub-FRAND, but they are not suitable benchmarks for bilateral licensing because they reflect significant transaction cost savings. Read more (IP Finance)

Although the medtech sector presents many challenges, SEP holders are increasingly looking to it for possible licensing opportunities. Read more (MLex) 🔒

The decline in IPR and PGR petitions at the PTAB has not led to a rise in district court patent litigation. Read more (MLex) 🔒