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ITU Workshop on Standards and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Issues. Open and closed strategy for standard setting and their relevance in developing nations . Utsab Banerjee, Tata Consultancy Services. Contents. Open and closed standards.
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ITU Workshop on Standards and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Issues Open and closed strategy for standard setting and their relevance in developing nations Utsab Banerjee, Tata Consultancy Services
Contents • Open and closed standards. • Ex ante license as an alternative to FRAND (Fair, Reasonable and non discriminatory). • Enforcement of Standards in India(case study for developing nations) . • Conclusion and suggestions. 2
Open standards • Transparent. • Time taken for implementation is less. • Defensive/royalty free patent pools. “Disclose but not assert essential patent right.” e.g. Ethernet (Digitel, Intel and Xerox). Disadvantages:- • Patent owners may not agree to participate in such standard. 3
Closed/Controlled standards • Licensor-licensee relationship. • Control remains with the contributors. • FRANDs are frequently used as preferred means Disadvantages:- • Hold up. • Capture share of value created by standard. • Royalty generating patent pool. 4
FRAND • The term “reasonable” is vague and there are no strict guidelines in most SSO IPR policy. • IPR holders could ostensibly promise to adhere to FRAND when they are participating in standardization, and actually disregard such promise once the standards are widely implemented. • Patent holders can dictate licensing terms resulting into monopoly which can also be anti competitive. 5
Ex-Ante FRAND ex ante (i.e. pre-standards) licensing E X A N T E 6
Ex Ante FRAND • Participants shall disclose patents and patent application information early in the standard development process. • The substantive provision on the licensing terms to be mentioned. • Fixed royalty based on patent valuation is a viable option. 7
Enforcement of Standards in India (case study for developing nations) • India is a major player both in terms of ICT R&D, market and support. • Few SSOs working in India esp. in ICT field. • Major road block is enforcement of IPR and competition laws. • Hardly any statutes or case law on standards and IPR. • Competition commission of India (CCI) still in nascent stage. 8
Suggestion and Conclusion • Implementation of FRAND is problematic in India (due to enforcement issue), ex-ante FRAND seems a better option. • More power needed in hand of CCI to settle competition law issues in standards. • Safe Harbor provision in Competition Act for SSOs. • Day to day hearing in High Court and Supreme Court of cases on IP Laws and standards (as directed in Bajaj v TVS case) • Licensing terms based on the standard index of the licensee (members as well as a non participating entities). (Standard index should be calculated based on annual turnover, SME or other factors, of the licensee) 9
Thank You “There is great freedom in discipline”