DOCUMENT #: GSC13-IPR-12 r1 FOR: Presentation SOURCE: ETSI AGENDA ITEM: 4.1 CONTACT(S): Dr. Michael Fröhlich The review of the ETSI IPR Policy Successfully addressing the new challenges Dr. Michael Fröhlich Legal Affairs Director Attorney-at-law GSC IPR Workshop GSC-13 Boston, 14-17 July 2008 Copyright © 2008. All rights reserved. Footer text (edit in View : Header and Footer) World Class Standards Table of content A. Introduction B. Topics under critical scrutiny 1) Disclosure and FRAND licensing declaration with regard to Patent Families 2) Improvements to the ETSI IPR Database 3) Revision of IPR Licensing Declaration forms 4) Examination of Competition/antitrust law issues in standardization process 5) Development of documentation rules facilitating the work of PTO’s 6) Irrevocability of FRAND licensing declaration 7) Assignment of a Patent that is subject to a FRAND licensing declaration C. Conclusion Dr. Michael Fröhlich ETSI Legal Affairs Director GSC IPR Workshop GSC-13 Boston, 14-17 July 2008 2 World Class Standards A. Introduction B. Topics under critical scrutiny 1) Disclosure and FRAND licensing declaration with regard to Patent Families 2) Improvements to the ETSI IPR Database 3) Revision of IPR Licensing Declaration forms 4) Examination of Competition/antitrust law issues in standardization process 5) Development of documentation rules facilitating the work of PTO’s 6) Irrevocability of FRAND licensing declaration 7) Assignment of a Patent that is subject to a FRAND licensing declaration C. Conclusion Dr. Michael Fröhlich ETSI Legal Affairs Director GSC IPR Workshop GSC-13 Boston, 14-17 July 2008 3 World Class Standards Main characteristics of ETSI IPR Policy (refresher) No technical reservation for the inclusion of IPRs in standards Early identification and disclosure of essential IPRs Ensuring the future applicability of the standards in full respect of the rights of the IPR owner by requesting FRAND licensing declaration Holders of essential IPRs are entitled (but not required) to make voluntary, unilateral, public ex ante disclosures of licensing terms for the sole purpose of assisting members in making informed, unilateral and independent decisions in relation to whether solutions best meet the technical objectives No involvement of ETSI in any commercial discussion on IPR matters (i.e. terms and conditions of the licenses to be determined by the parties of the agreement) Dr. Michael Fröhlich ETSI Legal Affairs Director GSC IPR Workshop GSC-13 Boston, 14-17 July 2008 4 World Class Standards ETSI IPR Special Committee (IPR SC) In 2006 ETSI IPR Review ad hoc group (IPR R AHG) recommended to the ETSI General Assembley the creation of a permanent IPR Special Committee (IPR SC) ToR of IPR SC: IPR SC under the responsability of the GA functions are purely consultative to provide advice with regard to IPR related issues when requested to assess, elaborate and propose necessary changes to the IPR Policy and IPR Guide resulting from requests from the Director-General, General Assembly, and ETSI Board, as appropriate IPR SC shall not be active on a regular basis but shall be activated in cases where the Chairman finds that urgent IPR SC shall make use of electronic document handling tools and electronic meeting facilities to the best extent possible Karsten Meinhold (Nokia Siemens Networks) has been appointed as Chairman by the IPR SC and the IPR SC elected Serena Tierney (Telefonica Europe plc) as Vice-Chairman Dr. Michael Fröhlich ETSI Legal Affairs Director GSC IPR Workshop GSC-13 Boston, 14-17 July 2008 5 World Class Standards Activation of the IPR SC IPR SC activated December 2007 in order to discuss several pending items, to find solutions for them and give advice on how to handle them. 4 meetings held already; 50-60 participants/meeting Meeting #5 scheduled on 23-25 Sept ‘08 Decisions made so far are all based on consensus Topics under critical scrutiny are: Disclosure and IPR undertaking/licensing declarations with regard to Patent Families Improvements to the ETSI IPR Database Revision of IPR Licensing Declaration forms Examination of Competition/antitrust law issues in standardization process Irrevocability of IPR undertaking/licensing declarations Continuity of IPR undertaking/licensing declaration when ownership of a Patent that is subject to such undertaking/licensing is transferred Dr. Michael Fröhlich ETSI Legal Affairs Director GSC IPR Workshop GSC-13 Boston, 14-17 July 2008 6 World Class Standards A. Introduction B. Topics under critical scrutiny 1) Disclosure and FRAND licensing declaration with regard to Patent Families 2) Improvements to the ETSI IPR Database 3) Revision of IPR Licensing Declaration forms 4) Examination of Competition/antitrust law issues in standardization process 5) Development of documentation rules facilitating the work of PTO’s 6) Irrevocability of FRAND licensing declaration 7) Assignment of a Patent that is subject to a FRAND licensing declaration C. Conclusion Dr. Michael Fröhlich ETSI Legal Affairs Director GSC IPR Workshop GSC-13 Boston, 14-17 July 2008 7 World Class Standards Patent Families Need has been identified to modify/clarify ETSI procedures and guidelines to further address patent family information unclear, if obligation to disclose is requiring the identification of all essential IPRs (i.e. including all members of a patent family) or if disclosure of an essential IPR is sufficient (i.e. one family member) also implication for FRAND licensing declaration are unclear notion of Patent Family is unclear Recommendation of the IPR SC (to be endorsed by GA#52 – 25/26 Nov ’08): Dr. Michael Fröhlich ETSI Legal Affairs Director GSC IPR Workshop GSC-13 Boston, 14-17 July 2008 8 World Class Standards Definition New Clause 15.13 ETSI IPR Policy: “PATENT FAMILY” shall mean all the documents having at least one priority in common, including the priority document(s) themselves. For the avoidance of doubt, “documents” refers to patents, utility models, and applications therefor.” Family P1 Family P2 Document D1 Priority P1 Document D2 Priority P1 Priority P2 Document D3 Priority P1 Priority P2 Document D4 Priority P2 Document D5 Dr. Michael Fröhlich ETSI Legal Affairs Director Family P3 Priority P3 Priority P3 GSC IPR Workshop GSC-13 Boston, 14-17 July 2008 9 World Class Standards Disclosure Obligation is met with the disclosure of one member of a patent family. Disclosure of other patent members is voluntary New Clause 4.3 ETSI IPR Policy: “The obligations pursuant to Clause 4.1 above are deemed to be fulfilled in respect of all existing and future members of a PATENT FAMILY if ETSI has been informed of a member of this PATENT FAMILY in a timely fashion. Information on other members of this PATENT FAMILY, if any, may be voluntarily provided.” Dr. Michael Fröhlich ETSI Legal Affairs Director GSC IPR Workshop GSC-13 Boston, 14-17 July 2008 10 World Class Standards FRAND licensing declaration Presumption that a FRAND licensing declaration with regard to one disclosed member of a patent family extents to all existing and future members of that patent family IPR holders have the possibility to specify upfront (i.e. at the time the FRAND licensing declaration is made) which members of the patent family are excluded from the FRAND-commitment New Clause 6.2 ETSI IPR Policy: “An undertaking pursuant to Clause 6.1 with regard to a specified member of a PATENT FAMILY shall apply to all existing and future ESSENTIAL IPRs of that PATENT FAMILY unless there is an explicit written exclusion of specified IPRs at the time the undertaking is made. The extent of any such exclusion shall be limited to those explicitly specified IPRs.” Dr. Michael Fröhlich ETSI Legal Affairs Director GSC IPR Workshop GSC-13 Boston, 14-17 July 2008 11 World Class Standards Consequences of upfront exclusion Clause 8 ETSI IPR Policy to be initiated in all cases of refusal regardless of appurtenance to patent family Modified Section 2.4.2 ETSI Guide on IPRs: “Where an the IPR undertaking/licensing declaration as provided in Clause 6 of the ETSI IPR Policy cannot be obtained because of the refusal by the essential IPR owner, the ETSI Secretariat is obliged to initiate the procedure set out in Clause 8 of the ETSI IPR Policy. For the avoidance of doubt with regard to PATENT FAMILIES, the ETSI Secretariat is obliged to initiate a procedure of Clause 8 of the ETSI IPR Policy in every case where the IPR owner refuses to give the IPR undertaking/licensing declaration as provided in Clause 6 of the ETSI IPR Policy for at least one member of a PATENT FAMILY regardless of the fact that the IPR owner might have given such IPR undertaking/licensing declaration for other members of the same PATENT FAMILY.” Dr. Michael Fröhlich ETSI Legal Affairs Director GSC IPR Workshop GSC-13 Boston, 14-17 July 2008 12 World Class Standards Other clarifications New Section 2.1.2 ETSI Guide on IPRs: “The deemed fulfilment in Clause 4.3 of the IPR Policy of the obligations pursuant to Clause 4.1 in respect of all existing and future members of a PATENT FAMILY is only applicable to the extent that the IPR owner has the right to make the IPR undertaking/licensing declaration pursuant to Clause 6.1 of the ETSI IPR Policy as to members of the PATENT FAMILY at the date of the IPR information statement and licensing declaration. For the purpose of the disclosure made under Clause 4, the patent owner may consider any part of an IPR document, in particular the description, the claims and the drawings.” Dr. Michael Fröhlich ETSI Legal Affairs Director GSC IPR Workshop GSC-13 Boston, 14-17 July 2008 13 World Class Standards (i.) Disclosure Let’s say there will be 5 patents (all being part of one patent family) 3rd party IPR Essential, but not yet applied for D3 Essential D4 D2 D5 Essential D1 Disclosure (Clause 4.1 IPR Policy) Dr. Michael Fröhlich ETSI Legal Affairs Director Essential IPR owner With disclosure of D1 the requirement to inform ETSI of essential IPR in a timely fashion is deemed to be fulfilled. GSC IPR Workshop GSC-13 Boston, 14-17 July 2008 14 World Class Standards (ii.) IPR undertaking/licensing declaration Let’s say there are 5 patents (all being part of one patent family) FRAND FRAND 3rd party IPR Essential, but not yet applied for D3 Essential FRAND D4 Essential D2 FRAND D5 Essential D1 Disclosure (Clause 4.1 IPR Policy) IPR owner Yes, give FRAND-undertaking Request FRANDundertaking Dr. Michael Fröhlich ETSI Legal Affairs Director GSC IPR Workshop GSC-13 Boston, 14-17 July 2008 ETSI 15 World Class Standards (ii.) IPR undertaking/licensing declaration Let’s say there are 5 patents (all being part of one patent family) FRAND FRAND 3rd party IPR Essential, but not yet applied for D3 Essential FRAND D4 Essential D2 FRAND D5 Essential D1 Disclosure (Clause 4.1 IPR Policy) IPR owner No FRAND-undertaking Request FRANDundertaking Dr. Michael Fröhlich ETSI Legal Affairs Director GSC IPR Workshop GSC-13 Boston, 14-17 July 2008 ETSI 16 World Class Standards (ii.) IPR undertaking/licensing declaration Let’s say there are 5 patents (all being part of one patent family) FRAND FRAND 3rd party IPR Essential, but not yet applied for D3 Essential FRAND D4 Essential D2 FRAND D5 Essential D1 Disclosure (Clause 4.1 IPR Policy) IPR owner No FRAND-undertaking ETSI Dr. Michael Fröhlich ETSI Legal Affairs Director GSC IPR Workshop GSC-13 Boston, 14-17 July 2008 17 World Class Standards (ii.) IPR undertaking/licensing declaration Let’s say there are 5 patents (all being part of one patent family) FRAND FRAND 3rd party IPR Essential, but not yet applied for D3 Essential FRAND D4 Essential D2 FRAND D5 Essential D1 Disclosure (Clause 4.1 IPR Policy) IPR owner Request FRANDundertaking Dr. Michael Fröhlich ETSI Legal Affairs Director GSC IPR Workshop GSC-13 Boston, 14-17 July 2008 ETSI 18 World Class Standards (ii.) IPR undertaking/licensing declaration Let’s say there are 5 patents (all being part of one patent family) FRAND FRAND 3rd party IPR Essential, but not yet applied for D3 Essential FRAND D4 Essential D2 FRAND D5 Essential D1 Disclosure (Clause 4.1 IPR Policy) IPR owner Request FRANDundertaking Dr. Michael Fröhlich ETSI Legal Affairs Director GSC IPR Workshop GSC-13 Boston, 14-17 July 2008 ETSI 19 World Class Standards A. Introduction B. Topics under critical scrutiny 1) Disclosure and FRAND licensing declaration with regard to Patent Families 2) Improvements to the ETSI IPR Database 3) Revision of IPR Licensing Declaration forms 4) Examination of Competition/antitrust law issues in standardization process 5) Development of documentation rules facilitating the work of PTO’s 6) Irrevocability of FRAND licensing declaration 7) Assignment of a Patent that is subject to a FRAND licensing declaration C. Conclusion Dr. Michael Fröhlich ETSI Legal Affairs Director GSC IPR Workshop GSC-13 Boston, 14-17 July 2008 20 World Class Standards Improvements to the ETSI IPR Database Matter is linked to Patent Family issue Recommendation of the IPR SC (endorsed by GA#51 – 26-28 Mar ’08): to provide the funding necessary to restructure the ETSI IPR Database Database Expert Group has been created to support the further development of a restructured IPR Database Requirements: Professional analysis of the data model of the ETSI IPR database IPR declarations of ETSI members and updates to be scanned and stored in the database as pdf-files (or a similar format) Dr. Michael Fröhlich ETSI Legal Affairs Director GSC IPR Workshop GSC-13 Boston, 14-17 July 2008 21 World Class Standards Improvements to the ETSI IPR Database Requirements (cont’d): history concept where every change is documented and traceable complete database to be provided for download supporting definition of private search criteria downloadable in such a manner that it replaces an existing older download of the database without destroying private search criteria Possibility to check the up-to-dateness of entries and patent family information with help of the official patent registers at PTO’s (e.g. provision of a link from entry in ETSI IPR Databse to the related entry in the official patent database of EPO) migration of existing data to restructured database without loss of information further co-operation with EPO should be investigated. Dr. Michael Fröhlich ETSI Legal Affairs Director GSC IPR Workshop GSC-13 Boston, 14-17 July 2008 22 World Class Standards A. Introduction B. Topics under critical scrutiny 1) Disclosure and FRAND licensing declaration with regard to Patent Families 2) Improvements to the ETSI IPR Database 3) Revision of IPR Licensing Declaration forms 4) Examination of Competition/antitrust law issues in standardization process 5) Development of documentation rules facilitating the work of PTO’s 6) Irrevocability of FRAND licensing declaration 7) Assignment of a Patent that is subject to a FRAND licensing declaration C. Conclusion Dr. Michael Fröhlich ETSI Legal Affairs Director GSC IPR Workshop GSC-13 Boston, 14-17 July 2008 23 World Class Standards IPR Licensing Declaration forms Making the use of the IPR Licensing Declaration forms mandatory Current situation: ETSI disposes of two forms which can be used by IPR owners to make declarations to ETSI (General IPR licensing declarations and IPR Information statements and licensing declarations, see Annex B of the ETSI Guide on IPRs) The use of the forms is not mandatory at present increase of cases where the wording of the forms has been modified by declarants amendment are suitable to hamper the reliability of the declarations and affects legal certainty, as even slight amendments may have farreaching effects. impossibility to review the wording of every declaration Dr. Michael Fröhlich ETSI Legal Affairs Director GSC IPR Workshop GSC-13 Boston, 14-17 July 2008 24 World Class Standards IPR Licensing Declaration forms IPR SC found that a pre-requisition for a decision whether to make the use of the forms mandatory or not, is an improvement of the format and the content of the forms, which should be aligned with the language of the ETSI IPR Policy ETSI SEC tabled a proposal which received wide support, but consensus could not yet being achieved Topic to be further discussed at Meeting#5 – 23-25 Sept ‘08 Dr. Michael Fröhlich ETSI Legal Affairs Director GSC IPR Workshop GSC-13 Boston, 14-17 July 2008 25 World Class Standards A. Introduction B. Topics under critical scrutiny 1) Disclosure and FRAND licensing declaration with regard to Patent Families 2) Improvements to the ETSI IPR Database 3) Revision of IPR Licensing Declaration forms 4) Examination of Competition/antitrust law issues in standardization process 5) Irrevocability of FRAND licensing declaration 6) Assignment of a Patent that is subject to a FRAND licensing declaration C. Conclusion Dr. Michael Fröhlich ETSI Legal Affairs Director GSC IPR Workshop GSC-13 Boston, 14-17 July 2008 26 World Class Standards Examination of competition law issues What are the issues regarding competition/antitrust law (if any) affecting ETSI and ETSI Members that may arise in a standardization process where a Member notifies the organization of a suspected future anticompetitive practice by another Member? What should an SDO do in a situation where it is confronted with the allegation that licensing terms that have been disclosed ex-ante may not be FRAND Can one distinguish between commercial discussions on IPR matters that are not allowed in ETSI and raising antitrust concerns in a Technical Body with subsequent evaluation of any such concerns After intensive discussions IPR SC was not able to reach a consensus on the matter and decided to ask for an external legal opinion Dr. Michael Fröhlich ETSI Legal Affairs Director GSC IPR Workshop GSC-13 Boston, 14-17 July 2008 27 World Class Standards Examination of competition law issues External counsel has been carefully selected and mandated with a legal opinion on the question whether there is need to modify any of ETSI’s procedures or policies to address possible anticompetitive conduct Expert opinion indicated that "... there is no need to modify any of ETSI’s procedures or policies to address possible anticompetitive conduct ...”, but consensus on this opinion was not reached within the IPR SC. Recommendation of the IPR SC (endorsed by GA#51 – 26-28 Mar ’08): to note that the subject of handling antitrust issues is closed until new issues are tabled Dr. Michael Fröhlich ETSI Legal Affairs Director GSC IPR Workshop GSC-13 Boston, 14-17 July 2008 28 World Class Standards A. Introduction B. Topics under critical scrutiny 1) Disclosure and FRAND licensing declaration with regard to Patent Families 2) Improvements to the ETSI IPR Database 3) Revision of IPR Licensing Declaration forms 4) Examination of Competition/antitrust law issues in standardization process 5) Development of documentation rules facilitating the work of PTO’s 6) Irrevocability of FRAND licensing declaration 7) Assignment of a Patent that is subject to a FRAND licensing declaration C. Conclusion Dr. Michael Fröhlich ETSI Legal Affairs Director GSC IPR Workshop GSC-13 Boston, 14-17 July 2008 29 World Class Standards Development of documentation rules New technological developments are not only discussed within SDO’s, but are in parallel also subject to patent applications Cooperation between PTO’s and SDO’s is a win-win situation PTO’s increase the quality of granted patents SDO’s reduces risk of IPR problems linked to unduly granted patents Resolution GSC-12/23 (IPR WG) on the cooperation with PTO’s ETSI and the EPO have established a close cooperation over the years Dr. Michael Fröhlich ETSI Legal Affairs Director GSC IPR Workshop GSC-13 Boston, 14-17 July 2008 30 World Class Standards Development of documentation rules Electronic searchability becomes increasingly important for PTO, but documentation varies in its layout, which leads to technical difficulties and induces also quite some costs To allow better examination documentation needs to contain information on bibliographic data such as effective publication date, working group, date and place of meeting, author or editor Develop documentation rules that lead to a better searchability Recommendation from IPR SC (to be endorsed by GA#52 - 25/26 Nov ‘08) ETSI Secretariat to prepare a meeting document template for use by ETSI Technical Bodies and WGs ETSI Board to update the Technical Working Procedures (TWP) to enforce the use of this template by the TBs. ETSI to draw the attention of other related SSOs with which ETSI has established links/contacts (e.g. through the GSC) on the importance of the matter and to share information Dr. Michael Fröhlich ETSI Legal Affairs Director GSC IPR Workshop GSC-13 Boston, 14-17 July 2008 31 World Class Standards A. Introduction B. Topics under critical scrutiny 1) Disclosure and FRAND licensing declaration with regard to Patent Families 2) Improvements to the ETSI IPR Database 3) Revision of IPR Licensing Declaration forms 4) Examination of Competition/antitrust law issues in standardization process 5) Development of documentation rules facilitating the work of PTO’s 6) Irrevocability of FRAND licensing declaration 7) Assignment of a Patent that is subject to a FRAND licensing declaration C. Conclusion Dr. Michael Fröhlich ETSI Legal Affairs Director GSC IPR Workshop GSC-13 Boston, 14-17 July 2008 32 World Class Standards Irrevocability of FRAND licensing declaration Continued availability of FRAND licensing declarations is key FRAND licensing declaration fails to serve purpose if it can be revoked at a later point Recommendation from IPR SC (to be endorsed by GA#52 - 25/26 Nov ‘08): To insert clarifying language, i.e. the word "irrevocable“, in Clause 6.1 of the ETSI IPR Policy as follows: "When an ESSENTIAL IPR relating to a particular STANDARD or TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION is brought to the attention of ETSI, the Director-General of ETSI shall immediately request the owner to give within three months an irrevocable undertaking in writing that it is prepared to grant irrevocable licences on fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms and conditions under such IPR to at least the following extent: ..." Dr. Michael Fröhlich ETSI Legal Affairs Director GSC IPR Workshop GSC-13 Boston, 14-17 July 2008 33 World Class Standards A. Introduction B. Topics under critical scrutiny 1) Disclosure and FRAND licensing declaration with regard to Patent Families 2) Improvements to the ETSI IPR Database 3) Revision of IPR Licensing Declaration forms 4) Examination of Competition/antitrust law issues in standardization process 5) Development of documentation rules facilitating the work of PTO’s 6) Irrevocability of FRAND licensing declaration 7) Assignment of a Patent that is subject to a FRAND licensing declaration C. Conclusion Dr. Michael Fröhlich ETSI Legal Affairs Director GSC IPR Workshop GSC-13 Boston, 14-17 July 2008 34 World Class Standards Assignment of a patent N-Data Solutions (FTC No. 051 0094 (Jan. 2008) Transfer of an IPR should not be used to circumvent a FRAND licensing declaration Support for the principle but yet no common agreement on how to implement it Topic to be further discussed at Meeting#5 – 23-25 Sept ‘08 Dr. Michael Fröhlich ETSI Legal Affairs Director GSC IPR Workshop GSC-13 Boston, 14-17 July 2008 35 World Class Standards A. Introduction B. Topics under critical scrutiny 1) Disclosure and FRAND licensing declaration with regard to Patent Families 2) Improvements to the ETSI IPR Database 3) Revision of IPR Licensing Declaration forms 4) Examination of Competition/antitrust law issues in standardization process 5) Development of documentation rules facilitating the work of PTO’s 6) Irrevocability of FRAND licensing declaration 7) Assignment of a Patent that is subject to a FRAND licensing declaration C. Conclusion Dr. Michael Fröhlich ETSI Legal Affairs Director GSC IPR Workshop GSC-13 Boston, 14-17 July 2008 36 World Class Standards Conclusion ETSI IPR Policy is a key element for the success of ETSI’s globally-applicable standards fair balance of all the interests involved allowing Members to fully reserve their IPRs is an incentive for high technology companies to participate in the standardization process enabling ETSI to draft excellent and high-quality standards ETSI is effectiveliy facing the new challenges ETSI will continue to lead the debate on IPRs and Standards Dr. Michael Fröhlich ETSI Legal Affairs Director GSC IPR Workshop GSC-13 Boston, 14-17 July 2008 37 Thank you for listening GSC IPR Workshop GSC-13 Boston, 14-17 July 2008 Footer text (edit in View : Header and Footer) Dr. Michael Fröhlich, D.E.A Legal Affairs Director Attorney-at-law legal@etsi.org +33 (0)4 92 94 42 60