App Association hits back in SEP licensing row
Trade body The App Association has responded to criticism of a ‘licence to all’ policy in the European Commission’s current draft of the communication on standard-essential patents (SEPs).
On Tuesday, November 7, WIPR reported that IP Europe, an alliance of small and medium-sized companies originally co-founded by Ericsson, opposed the current draft and claimed that the ‘licence to all’ policy would significantly harm the European innovation sector.
IP Europe, which was originally launched by Ericsson and Airbus, went on to claim that ‘licence to all’ could precipitate a decline in European research and development if adopted.
The Commission released a roadmap for the licensing of SEPs in April this year. It invited feedback from stakeholders but the full guidance has not yet been published.
According to IP Europe, the new ‘licence to all’ approach is being prepared to replace the ‘access for all’ policy, meaning users of a technology within a device would have to take a licence.
IP Europe claimed: “By contrast, an obligation to license to all or any actors in the value chain will expose these app companies to new financial demands, adding to the mandatory 30% tax on their sales revenue currently demanded by the monopoly owners of app platforms.”
In response, Morgan Reed, president of The App Association, stated: “To dismiss ‘licence to all’ as a licence to kill may be a nice soundbite, but it is a complete fiction.”
Reed added that ‘licence to all’ is the “bedrock” of fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory licensing (FRAND), and has been for decades.
“If the Commission allows itself to be manipulated into moving away from this longstanding principle of SEP licensing, it will effectively hand a small number of firms a licence to discriminate, and a wide range of European companies will find their hands tied as they attempt to unleash the potential promised by the internet of things (IoT),” he concluded.
Earlier this year, Karl Heinz Rosenbrock, the former director-general of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), wrote a paper in response to arguments against ‘licence to all’.
“Never during the more than five years of work on the ETSI IPR policy—and even later—do I recall a distinction being made with regard to the category of potential licensees (of the SEPs),” he wrote.
“As already noted, ETSI adopted the clear and unambiguous policy of requiring that FRAND licences be offered to all interested comers/potential licensees who provide products or services designed to be compatible with the chosen standard, irrespective of their position in the industry or a chain of distribution.”
Bertram Huber wrote a response to this paper, on behalf of IP Europe, but in early November, Rosenbrock hit back with another paper.
The App Association has also been concerned about the potential for the Commission to extend use-based pricing—a practice currently used for licensing of smartphone technology—to the IoT.
Founder of The App Association Mike Sax claimed that basing the licence fee for an essential patented technology on its use is “toxic to innovation” and that a small number of large patent owners would gain an unfair advantage from use-based pricing.
In opposition to this, IP Europe said it is a long-established and fundamental procedure in the area of FRAND.
Did you enjoy reading this story? Sign up to our free newsletters and get stories like this sent straight to your inbox.
Today’s top stories:
Judge hands down mixed ruling for Apple and Qualcomm
Delta sues Florida man over bogus tickets website
‘Sceptical’ court dismisses Forever 21’s claims in Gucci TM dispute
