The world of SEPs is potentially treacherous, with companies often facing millions of dollars in licensing fees or the prospect of being banned from selling or importing critical products. SEP owners and prospective licensees would do well to have answers to some considerations: When a company practices an industry standard, can it protect itself against the owner of an SEP? How can an SEP owner enforce its rights? What is the impact of SEPs on licensing?
SEPs are patents covering technology that is crucial to an industry standard. That is, standard-setting organizations in many industries develop and issue industry standards to provide uniformity among products and services—Bluetooth and 4G are well-known examples of standards in the wireless communication industry. During the adoption of a proposed standard, the member-companies of a standard-setting organization often disclose certain patents as essential. These patents are SEPs, and SEP owners typically commit to license them on fair/reasonable and non-discriminatory (F/RAND) terms.
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