On 29 November 2017 the European Commission (the Commission) published the long-awaited “Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, and the European Economic and Social Committee”, setting out the Commission approach to Standard Essential Patent (SEP) licensing. The communication aims to address at least some of those questions on SEP licensing left open by the CJEU judgment of Huawei v ZTE. Designed for the age of 5G and the Internet of Things, the communication takes into account that the same connectivity technology may have varying relevance depending on the market sector (e.g. home appliance versus auto), and there is no one-size-fits-all definition of what constitutes ‘fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory’ (FRAND) licence terms.
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