Managing Intellectual Property
International Patent Forum 2011
LICENSING AND TECH TRANSFER
MAKING THE MOST OUT OF YOUR PATENT
Gustav Brismark
Vice President, Patent Strategy & Portfolio Management
Ericsson AB
THE USE OF PATENTS
› A patent gives the right to
exclude others
› In telecom, patents are
licensed
END-USER VALUE
The value an end-user derives from a service
increases when the number of other users using the
same kind of service increases
Co-operation in an open innovation
process in telecom on new standards
provides economy-of-scale
It reduces the risk and investment for new
entrants and increases competition
The standard specification is the basis for
technology transfer through licensing
TECHNOLGY TRANSFER
– THROUGH FRAND LICENSING
Reported subscriptions per system standard
9 000
Excluding M2M
connections
8 000
LTE/TD-LTE
Reported Subscriptions (million)
7 000
WCDMA/HSPA
6 000
GSM/GPRS/EDGE
5 000
4 000
TDSCDMA
3 000
Mobile WiMAX
2 000
CDMA
1 000
Other
0
2008
Source: Internal Ericsson
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015 This slide contains forward looking
statements
FRAND licensing is a mass market enablerSource: Internal Ericsson
FRAND – WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
› FRAND commitment means no blocking patents
– Essential patents licensed
– Fair return on R&D investments
› Market accessible to new entrants
– Tech transfer possible through Reasonable cumulative royalty
› FRAND
– Gives incentive for further innovation
– Makes it possible for new companies to enter the market
– Has a proven track record of global market success
Fair compensation  Waiving monopoly
DEFINING FRAND
› Reasonable cumulative rates
– Patent Landscape
– Estimated value of technology
› Reasonable individual rate
– Patent Share
– Reflect the contribution
› Bilateral negotiation
› Legal enforcement
› Complete declarations
› Evidence of essentiality
ANTITRUST CONSIDERATIONS –
TELECOM STANDARDS LIKE 3GPP
›
3GPP* standardization is a collaborative process
›
Rules designed to be compliant with competition law
–
–
–
–
›
Membership is open to anyone
The process involves all stakeholders
Consensus driven decisions
Technical considerations only for decision making
Members are bound by 3GPP rules
–
–
Non-members may abuse market power gained from having their
technology included in the standard
May indeed merit competition law intervention
* 3GPP is a project which has been assigned the responsibility, from regional standards bodies, to
ANTITRUST CONSIDERATIONS –
STANDARDIZATION IN THE EU
› The EC has revised their guidelines on horizontal cooperation
› Among the issues raised in this context, was that of joint discussions
of licensing terms
› It is Ericsson’s position that joint discussions on a reasonable
maximum cumulative may lead to lower costs for consumers
– Lowers barriers of entry
– Increases transparency
– Reduces total costs for commercialization
› Such discussions are a prerequisite to form Patent Pools
› That need has been acknowledged by EC Technology Transfer
Guidelines
FRAND – BALANCE OF INTERESTS
IPR
owner
EQUIPMENT
industry
FRAND is intended to maintain the delicate balance between the interest of the
intellectual property holder and the needs of the broader set of companies that need
access to the essential intellectual property
- “The essentials of intellectual property”,
Signals Research group, 2010