Our General Manager Craig Thompson hosted on September 24, 2020, IP experts Earl Nied, Program Director of Standards and IP at Intel, and Francisco Sanchez, VP and Chief IP Counsel of IP at American Honda Motors Corporation, in a discussion attended by 152 IP professionals about recent FRAND litigation and 5G licensing.

The question of who owns 5G standard essential patents is an issue that many institutions and companies are grappling with as this important technology gets deployed. Many have claimed through declarations that they own 5G essential patents, but there is currently no economically sensible way to evaluate these claims. At least when companies self-declare their 5G patents they also generally agree to license them on a fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) basis, often limiting their use for securing injunctions and disproportionately high royalties.

Many companies need customized solutions to help with patent portfolio analysis, landscaping, infringement, Standard Essential Patent (SEP) issues, and expert testimony.   Introducing Unified Consulting (UC), a sister company to Unified Patents, which can meet the needs of companies through IP consulting and data services and support.

Fair, Reasonable, and Non-Discriminatory (FRAND) licensing obligations are enjoying their time in courts and negotiation rooms of late. Licensors are making claims that their historical licensing rates are FRAND while licensees are expected to accept these claims on faith. The information asymmetry confronting licensees makes sound, FRAND based licensing challenging and leads to increased litigation. The 2017 TCL v. Ericsson case highlighted both the LTE FRAND rate discrimination and information asymmetry that favors licensors.