Patent licensing and FRAND: a new approach

In April and June two notable judgments in the Unwired Planet litigation emerged from the High Court dealing with FRAND (fair reasonable and non-discriminatory) patent licensing of standard essential patents. In our first of two articles on this landmark case (which will be published in PLC), we consider the significance and wider implications of the case, including the impact of the judgment on competition law defences.

The case:

• clarifies and supplements recent European case law on the meaning of FRAND; and
• provides detailed guidance on the method for concluding a FRAND licence and a pragmatic approach to calculating FRAND royalties
• marks the first time that an English court has made a FRAND determination and set a FRAND royalty rate as well as granted a new “FRAND injunction” indicates that competition law issues may be of decreasing importance in patent licensing.

Our second article which looks in detail at the key IP licensing aspects emerging from the judgments can be found here.