AIPLA Standards and Open Source Committee Minutes
Date: April 20, 2015
Time: 9:00 am – 10:00 am PT (noon – 1:00 pm ET)
Attendees: Joanne Montague, Andy Updegrove, Theresa Stadheim, David Long, Scott Gilfillan,
Michael Atlass, Iris Mok, Brian Boerman, Chuck Chesney, Richard Wolfram, Sandy Block, Per
Larsen, John Lyon, Stan Weinstein, Ken Frankel, Wayne Sobon, Julie Gantz
1. Chair’s Report –
Spring Meeting – Ken is coordinating a program for the Spring Meeting, which will be held
in Los Angeles at the end of April. Please let Joanne know if you are planning to attend the
Spring Meeting. The Committee plans to get together for a social time after the Opening
Reception on Thursday evening.
Minutes – Let Joanne and David know if there are corrections to the March meeting minutes.
2. Subcommittee Reports –
Standards Subcommittee – (Latonia and Joe not present) – No report was given.
Open Source Subcommittee – Michael and John (Cindy not present) –
GPL Lawsuit in Germany – The Subcommittee is following a lawsuit in Germany
against VMware, in which GPL violations are alleged. The exercise of linking to GPL
code is being challenged as creating a derivative work. Michael will forward links to
articles and information to anyone who would like more information.
Government Group Project – Cindy is working on a CLE on the topic of open source
and the government.
Scanning Tools – The Subcommittee is working on a list of open source resources for
the website.
Subcommittee Membership – The Subcommittee has added a few new members within
the last month.
Program Subcommittee – Ken (Bob not present) –
2015 Spring Meeting – The program will be on Thursday, April 30th, 3:30 pm – 5:30
pm. It is called: “The Perplexing Intersection of IP, Standards, Licensing, and Antitrust.”
There will be speakers from two standard setting organizations. Clark Silcox will present
on how standards bodies create standards. Eileen Lach will discuss IEEE’s recent change
to its policies. Sarah Guichard will be the moderator of the licensing panel, which will
include Stan Panakowski for the licensor’s perspective and Dave Djavaherian for the
licensee’s perspective. Sandy Block will be the moderator of the litigation panel, which
will include Kurt Kjelland for the licensor’s perspective and Scott Gilfillan for the
licensee’s perspective.
2015 Annual Meeting – Our Committee is working on a plenary session with the
Antitrust Committee and the China Committee. The program will be on competition
issues in Europe and the Far East. SEP issues in China will be discussed. The
Committee will look into having a business meeting during the Annual Meeting.
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2016 Mid Winter Institute – Wayne will look into whether there is the opportunity to
have committee meetings and CLEs at the Mid Winter Institute.
3. Liaison Reports –
Patent Law and ECLC – Stan – The AIPLA Subcommittee on Patent Policy had a call
about how rejections based on Alice are being handled.
Antitrust Committee – Sandy – China –

China is coming up with new patent laws. Article 82 discusses standard essential
patents and Chinese national standards. There appears to be a default RAND
obligation on anyone who participates and does not disclose under a Chinese national
standard.

The NDRC found violations and fined Qualcomm. Sandy noted that the NDRC
found that the value of a license may have varied over time.

David asked if any Committee member knows of a comment period for the new
patent laws.

Sandy noted that there are also new antitrust regulations in China.
4. Newsworthy Cases – David and Sandy –
Microsoft v. Motorola – Arguments were heard in the Ninth Circuit earlier this month. In
the earlier trial, Judge Robart first determined the RAND royalty rate range and suggested a
royalty, then went to the jury and asked if there was a RAND violation. Motorola argued
that this should have been done the other way around.
Core Wireless v. Apple – Core Wireless asserted SEPs against Apple. The jury found that
Apple did not infringe, and that Core Wireless did not violate its RAND commitment. One
aspect of the case was that an implementer, when aware of SEPs, should ask for a license.
Innovatio – Innovatio filed three new SEP cases against chip manufacturers.
Ericsson v. Apple – This dispute is live in the ITC, California and the Eastern District of
Texas. Orders are being awaited in the cases. This is a set of cases worth watching.
5. New Business –
Report from ABA Meeting – Richard noted that during the ABA Spring Meeting, Antitrust
Section, there was interest in the IEEE business review letter by the DOJ. In addition, the
FTC 6(b) study of SEPs is ongoing. It is expected that there will be something out soon on
that study. Finally, there was a debate on whether antitrust attacks are harming innovation.
Standard Licensing Forms – Sandy noted that the Licensing Committee is putting forth
efforts to come up with standard forms for licensing and other IP transactions. There has
been talk about working with other organizations on this project.
6. Next Conference Call Meeting – Monday, May 11, 2015, 9 am-10 am PT (noon-1 pm ET)
Adjourned.
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