1. ETSI
GSC IPR 20 April 2015
Presented by Christian Loyau GSC_IPR(15)01_010
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2. 72 (remote participation) 80 (remote participation)
Meeting information
Dirk Weiler (Nokia Networks) and Serge Raes (Orange) respectively re-appointed as Chairman and Vice-chairman
Year
IPR Meeting #
Participants
2015 21
72 (remote participation)
2014 20
80 (remote participation) 19 75 18 68
2013 17 73 16 69 15 14 13 83
2012 12 11
11 meetings
Average:  73
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3. Background Main Characteristics of ETSI IPR Policy (1)
Focus on the most suitable technology for the standards.
Early identification and disclosure of essential IPRs, especially in cases where the holder of essential IPR is not prepared to grant licences under FRAND terms and conditions.
Ensuring the future applicability of the standards in full respect of the rights of the IPR owner by requesting irrevocable FRAND licensing undertaking.
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4. Background Main Characteristics of ETSI IPR Policy (2)
No involvement of ETSI in any commercial discussion on IPR matters (i.e., terms and conditions of the licenses to be determined by the parties of the agreement).
Voluntary, unilateral, public ex ante disclosures of licensing terms for the sole purpose of assisting members in making informed (unilateral and independent) decisions in relation to whether solutions best meet the technical objectives, are not prohibited under the ETSI IPR Policy. In this context, ETSI provides a repository for URLs of IPR owners, which contain the relevant information.
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5. Scope of the IPR SC
to provide advice and guidance to the Director-General, General Assembly, and ETSI Board with regard to IPR related issues when requested
to assess, elaborate and propose necessary changes to the IPR Policy and IPR Guide resulting from requests from the Director-General, General Assembly, and ETSI Board, as appropriate
 Unless specifically identified by the General Assembly or the ETSI Board, the functions of the IPR Committee are purely consultative
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6. Changes to the IPR Policy
ETSI Intellectual Property Rights policy : integral part of the Rules of Procedures
The IPR policy can only be amended by decision of the General Assembly (Article 18 of the Statutes)
Consensus or by weighted national voting ( Article 11 of the RoP) ; not less than 71% of the total weighted votes cast to be in favor
Weighted National votes; from 29 to 3
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7. ETSI IPR Online Database
The current ETSI IPR Database went live in March at: and allows online IPR declarations.
Evolutions/enhancements mainly based on feedback received from users, are being implemented (e.g., Pre-selected Projects are available as suggestions, disclosures can be created from previous ones).
The ETSI IPR Online database is increasingly used, including by non- Members and by companies that were used to using the IPR Licensing Declaration forms in paper form.
“Dynamic Reporting” provides access to information on the relationship between patented technologies and standards
Snapshot Content (April 2015): Patent Families have been declared as being essential to 438 ETSI Projects and/or 7057 ETSI Standards by 227 Declaring Companies through 1428 IPR licensing declarations
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8. Ongoing policy discussions within the ETSI IPR SC (1)
In response to the needs of ETSI members, and the ICT industry in general, the ETSI IPR Special Committee (IPR SC) has embarked in discussions on the following topics:
FRAND:
To day ETSI is operating with the FRAND concept allowing negotiation flexibility – in case of dispute courts and/or ADR available to fix the issue; ETSI is not involved in any manner in commercial discussions.
Should ETSI provide guidelines/principles for compensation elements under the FRAND commitment ?
Discussions have not been conclusive so far
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9. Ongoing policy discussions within the ETSI IPR SC (2)
Reciprocity:
Should ETSI consider the scope of any option that a FRAND undertaking provided in accordance to Clause 6.1 of the ETSI IPR Policy may be made subject to the condition that those who seek licenses agree to reciprocate ?
Discussions have not been conclusive so far
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10. Ongoing policy discussions within the ETSI IPR SC (3)
Injunctive Relief:
ETSI IPR SC has extensively debated under which conditions a patent owner should/will refrain from pursuing injunctive relief (including an order of exclusion or similar prohibition on importation) ? (such conditions may pertain to the conduct of either or both licensees and licensors.)
No decision has been reached – discussions on hold until new developments, e.g. the decision of the ECJ in the Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd v ZTE Corp., ZTE Deutschland GmbH case
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11. Ongoing policy discussions within the ETSI IPR SC (4)
Transfer of a Patent Subject to a FRAND Licensing Commitment:
In line with the EC horizontal guidelines GA#61 in March has adopted changes in the IPR Policy such that all successors-in-interest pf SEP are bound by the FRAND Commitment given by the owner to ETSI
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12. Ongoing policy discussions within the ETSI IPR SC (5)
Transparency:
In collaboration with EC, ETSI IPR SC investigating how transparency around SEP can be improved
by working on the essentiality,
on increasing the cooperation with the EPO and
starting working with JPO, etc…
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13. Cooperation
ETSI continues its exchanges with WIPO on the ADR option for solving FRAND related disputes
New agreements for 2014
MoU with the Global Certification Forum (GCF)
MoU with the Open Networking Foundation (ONF)
MoU with the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF)
LoI with the EIT ICT LABS
LoI with ADCO R&TTE
LoI with EURAMET
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14. Useful links/references
ETSI Directives > ETSI Technical Working Procedures, Article Partnerships
Partnership Engagement Process:
Partnership Portfolio:
Partnership Officer:
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15. TruePosition Settlement Agreement ; signed July 10 2014
No cash payment – full release
Covenant to train 3GPP elected officials and MCC staff with antitrust/completion issues
ETSI is trying to put in place a better protection against unfounded claims creating a financial burden
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16. Conclusions
ETSI IPR Policy is one of the key elements for the success of ETSI’s globally-applicable standards
Any change to the ETSI IPR Policy
i) should strive to improve transparency while carefully maintaining the existing balance between the legitimate interests of standardization and all its stakeholders,
ii) needs to maintain the objective of providing transparent information about the availability of IPRs declared as essential
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17. Conclusions
Discussions need to be focussed on business and standardization system needs
ETSI is facing new challenges and is fully prepared to adapt/clarify its Tools and Directives to meet the requirements of a changing environment, where necessary
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18. Thank you! Contact Details:
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