China is becoming an important battlefield in global disputes over the licensing of standard essential patents ("SEPs"). On 26 April 2018, the High People’s Court of Guangdong Province – home to many Chinese high-tech companies – issued the Working Guidelines on the Trial of Standard Essential Patent Disputes (Trial Implementation). The Guidelines propose a holistic set of rules that consolidate some international practices on SEP-related issues. At the same time, they endorse the fault-based approach applied in two recent SEP cases in China, Huawei v. Samsung and Iwncomm v. Sony.
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