Title
A Safety Zone for the Ex Ante Communication of Licensing Terms at Standard-Setting Organizations
Author
John J. Kelly, President of the JEDEC Solid-State Technology Association, and Daniel I. Prywes, Partner, Bryan Cave LLP
Date
7/25/2008
(Original Publish Date: 3/1/2006)
(Original Publish Date: 3/1/2006)
Abstract
Many industry standard-setting organizations (SSOs) encourage or require participants in the standards development process to disclose patents or patent applications that relate to a proposed standard. This is done so that the SSO may make an informed choice among different options when selecting the technology to be used in a standard. If one option is likely to require use of a patented technology subject to high royalty rates, and others are not, then the SSO should take this factor into account in its selection decision to arrive at the best standard. As a matter of economic efficiency, the “best” standard is the one that strikes the optimal balance between cost and technical superiority.
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