Response to European Commission
Intellectual property – new framework for standard-essential patents
Call for evidence for an impact assessment
9 May 2022
As legal academics, economists, and former United States governmental officials who are experts in intellectual property and competition law, we respectfully submit these views in response to the Intellectual property—new framework for standard-essential patents: Call for evidence for an impact assessment, published 14 February 2022, by the European Commission. We have dedicated extensive attention in academic research and governmental positions to the licensing and enforcement of standard-essential patents (SEPs) relating to wireless communication technologies and the application of those technologies in a wide range of markets and industries.
Specifically, we submit these views in response to the Commission’s statement in the Call for evidence that it “aims at seeking the views of stakeholders on various questions that are important for developing an efficient framework for SEP licensing” and “is particularly interested to hear the views of . . . academics.” In this submission, we present what we view as the principal concepts and evidence relating to the constructive role of SEPs in efficiently promoting innovation and structuring commercialization activities in mobile communications and other environments that have been and are enabled by foundational technologies such as 4G/LTE, 5G, and WiFi. We also take this opportunity to correct what we believe are certain misconceptions that have arisen in certain scholarly and regulatory commentary considering these topics. We have organized our discussion around five key topics, which pertain to the principal questions set forth in the Call for evidence.
