Sisvel POS royalty rates announced; more on Munich FRAND guidelines; the dangers of court-set pool terms; China clarifies administrative SEP enforcement rules; 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.

** Click here to get this newsletter delivered directly to your inbox every Monday **

Our POS licensing programme reached another milestone last Thursday, announcing royalty rates under which device makers can access 44 patent portfolios comprising more than 50% of all cellular SEP families.

The rate structure – developed in consultation with the market – groups POS devices into four categories based on their cellular-enabled capabilities, with per-unit fees ranging from €1.20 for payment sound boxes to €8 for the most advanced POS terminals. A template licence agreement, also published last week, defines each device category and sets out other standard pool terms.

As programme manager Sven Torringer explained, the rates provide a vital benchmark for the market – and another step towards efficient, predictable licensing in the POS space.

In other news, more detail is emerging from the extensive FRAND guidelines recently issued by the Munich Seventh Civil Chamber. New analyses examine its concepts of ‘outer’ and ‘inner’ willingness, its approach to establishing comparables and many other topics.

Elsewhere, Access Advance has penned a response to the UK Supreme Court’s recent Tesla decision, warning that court-determined rates would greatly undermine the time-tested pool licensing model; and China’s patent office has clarified that FRAND issues must be considered in administrative SEP enforcement proceedings.

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

Sisvel has published the royalty rates for its POS patent pool, which comprises 44 licensors and covers over 50% of cellular SEP families. Read more (Sisvel Newsroom)

Smartphone maker Transsion has provisioned RMB 1.6 billion ($243 million) for after-sales warranty fees and patent usage fees, according to its latest financial report. Read more (IAM)🔒

Legal

Further details have emerged on the FRAND guidelines published by the Munich Seventh Civil Chamber last week. Read more (JUVE Patent). See also IAM🔒, MLex🔒, ip fray (1) 🔒and ip fray (2) 🔒

John Deere has been sued in Germany by cellular SEP owners Acer and Jingshi IP. Read more (ip fray)🔒

Chinese company Baseus is the latest target of Philips’ Qi patent campaign at the UPC. Read more (IAM) 🔒

Former Siemens patents have been asserted against French device maker Sagemcom in the Eastern District of Texas. Read more (IAM) 🔒

Policy & Opinion

Court-set pool rates, as contemplated in the UK Supreme Court’s recent Tesla decision, would likely lead to more fragmentation, more litigation, higher licensing costs, less transparency and delayed adoption of technologies. Read more (Access Advance)

Chinese administrative authorities must consider FRAND factors before issuing stop-infringement orders, the CNIPA has clarified. Read more (MLex)🔒

Strategy & Analysis

Courts in Brazil are prepared to presume that a transparent, uniformly available pool royalty is FRAND, the recent Panasonic decision shows. Read more (IAM) 🔒

A report on the UPC’s third year of operation has found that SEPs continue to drive a large share of litigation activity. Read more (IAM) 🔒

Binding arbitration may have several advantages for resolving complex SEP disputes, but speed is not necessarily one of them. Read more (IAM) 🔒