Tech, Auto Companies Urge US Action On Standard Essential Patents

A group of 15 US and foreign tech and automobile companies and organisations has sent a letter to the White House asking for support to reduce what they see as rising anti-competitive licensing practices involving standards essential patents (SEPs).

SEPs are patents included in technologies that have been designated as standards. The process of such designations creates an exclusive opportunity for the patent holder, but they are asked to licence their patented technology to the world on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms.

The 20 April letter [pdf] was signed by ACT | The App Association, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, Dell, Hewlett-Packard (HP), Intel, Samsung, and VIZIO, among others. Collectively, they own more than 100,000 patents and account for billions of dollars of the US economy, the letter says.

They raise concern that a growing number of SEP holders in the telecommunications chip industry are going back on their voluntary commitments to licence under FRAND terms.

In particular, the group supports a lawsuit filed on 20 January by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in California involving Qualcomm.

“The FTC’s recent lawsuit alleges exactly this type of conduct – abusing monopoly power to eliminate competition by other companies in the wireless telecommunications industry,” it states.

The letter notes, “While we take no position here on the merits of this case, the critical issues it raises deserve a robust adjudication. Those that disagree with any of the allegations in the FTC’s complaint will have their day in U.S. court.”

“By not acting, the U.S. might risk losing its voice or influence in foreign jurisdictions, particularly in jurisdictions where both protection for legitimate patent rights and enforcement against patent abuses is weak,” it says. And acting will boost the US market and business environment.