Patent licensing: The fierce debate over FRAND

For nearly a decade, a fierce debate has raged over the licensing of patents that are essential to today’s wireless standards (such as LTE). Despite the mobile phone industry having grown at an exponential rate, a small group of mobile phone manufacturers complained that the licensing regime—essentially the means by which inventors of wireless technologies are compensated for their innovation—was somehow unfair.

The first battleground was whether these inventors could rightfully seek to enjoin manufacturers from selling wireless products if they refused to take a licence and pay reasonable royalties. These manufacturers complained that no such injunction could ever be granted, suggesting that the availability of injunctive relief would allow innovators to extract unfair royalties.