OpenLobby.EU
Explore

Fair Standards Alliance

FSA

Fair Standards Alliance is an association promoting fair and non-discriminatory licensing for standard essential patents.

Lobbying Activity

Meeting with Andrey Kovatchev (Member of the European Parliament)

27 Feb 2024 · Standard Essential Patents

Meeting with Bergur Løkke Rasmussen (Member of the European Parliament)

13 Feb 2024 · Regulation on Standard Essential Patents

Meeting with Martine Kemp (Member of the European Parliament)

7 Feb 2024 · Standard Essential Patents

Meeting with Pierre Karleskind (Member of the European Parliament)

7 Feb 2024 · Standard Essential Patents

Meeting with Andrey Kovatchev (Member of the European Parliament)

29 Nov 2023 · Standard Essential Patents

Meeting with Danuta Maria Hübner (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur for opinion)

14 Nov 2023 · Standard Essential Patents (COD 2023/0133)

Meeting with Maria da Graça Carvalho (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur for opinion)

14 Nov 2023 · Standard Essential Patents

Meeting with Raphaël Glucksmann (Member of the European Parliament)

25 Oct 2023 · APA Level - Standard Essential Patents

Meeting with Danuta Maria Hübner (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur for opinion) and European Association Automotive Suppliers and European Smart Energy Solution Providers

20 Oct 2023 · Standard Essential Patents (COD 2023/0133) (Meeting with APA)

Meeting with Maria-Manuel Leitão-Marques (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur for opinion) and Nokia

2 Oct 2023 · SEPs

Meeting with Maria da Graça Carvalho (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur for opinion)

26 Sept 2023 · Standard Essential Patents

Meeting with Tiemo Wölken (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur)

19 Sept 2023 · Standard Essential Patents Regulation

Meeting with Marion Walsmann (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur)

1 Sept 2023 · Standard Essential Patents

Fair Standards Alliance supports EU overhaul of patent licensing rules

10 Aug 2023
Topic — New European Union legislation governing standard essential patents used in connectivity technologies.
Message — The alliance requests that pre-existing standards like Wi-Fi and 5G be explicitly listed as falling within the scope of the regulation. They seek a safe harbour to negotiate toward agreements free from the threat of injunction. Finally, they maintain the determination should be non-binding by design to ensure fairness.123
Why — This would allow members to avoid accepting licensing terms that are not fair and reasonable.45
Impact — Large patent holders could no longer use the threat of market exclusion to extract excessive fees.67
Read full response

Meeting with Maurits-Jan Prinz (Cabinet of Commissioner Thierry Breton)

8 May 2023 · Standard-essential patents

Meeting with Penelope Papandropoulos (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager), Werner Stengg (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager) and

24 Mar 2023 · Standard Essential Patent Licensing

Meeting with Anthony Whelan (Cabinet of President Ursula von der Leyen)

16 Mar 2023 · On Standard Essential Patent Licensing

Meeting with Maurits-Jan Prinz (Cabinet of Commissioner Thierry Breton) and Continental AG and

3 Mar 2023 · Standard-essential patent.

Response to Evaluation of the Technology Transfer Block Exemption Regulation and Guidelines

22 Dec 2022

Please find attached Fair Standards Alliance's Response to the Call for Evidence on the Technology Transfer Guidelines in the attached document.
Read full response

Meeting with Pascal Durand (Member of the European Parliament)

28 Jun 2022 · IP rights

Fair Standards Alliance urges EU to curb abusive patent injunctions

9 May 2022
Topic — A consultation on creating a new EU framework for standard-essential patent licensing.
Message — The organization requests a framework preventing the unjustified use of court-ordered bans in patent disputes. They demand licenses be available to all companies in a supply chain, regardless of their level. They argue injunctions should only be granted after a court determines if an offer is fair.123
Why — Manufacturers would avoid production shutdowns and the pressure to pay unfairly high royalty rates.45
Impact — Large, non-European patent holders would lose their ability to act as gatekeepers of innovation.6
Read full response

Meeting with Kerstin Jorna (Director-General Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs)

13 Apr 2021 · • Introduction of the Fair Standards Alliance and its mission • SEP licensing challenges faced by European businesses that adversely affect European competitiveness

Response to Intellectual Property Action Plan

14 Aug 2020

As an alliance of 47 large and small companies from around the world, advocating fairer licensing of standardised technologies, the Fair Standards Alliance agrees with the Commission that licensing of standard essential patents (SEPs) “remains a risky and costly exercise”. We welcome the Commission “exploring ways to promote more transparency and predictability on licensing of SEPs” and continuously “monitoring the application of the IPR Enforcement Directive to ensure it is effective and balanced, particularly on injunctions.” Predictability in SEP licensing and legal certainty are critical for businesses to be able to plan and invest in R&D. Users of standardised technologies have legitimate expectations that they should be able to a) obtain SEP licences for the use of such technologies on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms; b) irrespective of where in the supply chain they operate and/or which companies they might be supplying; and c) without fear of coercion into non-FRAND licensing terms under the threat of injunctions. Each of these expectations has a substantial policy and legal basis. For example, there is an extensive body of legal sources and policy statements – including by the Commission and EU courts – supporting the principle that licences should be made available to all parties that use standardised technology and wish to get a licence for such use. See 1.1 and 1.2. in Annex. Accordingly, in its Communication on SEPs, the Commission emphasised that a FRAND undertaking creates the legitimate expectation on the part of third parties that the proprietor of the SEP will in fact grant licences on FRAND terms. In the Communication, the Commission also clarified that valuation of SEPs should a) “bear a clear relationship to the economic value of the patented technology” b) “focus on the technology itself and in principle should not include any element resulting from the decision to include the technology in the standard;” c) “should be irrespective of the market success of the product which is unrelated to the patented technology”; d) “take into account a reasonable aggregate rate for the standard”. In accordance with these principles, FRAND encumbered SEPS should be valued on the basis of their own technical merits and scope, not downstream values or uses, and be in proportion to the value added by other inventions. Royalty rates should also take into account the smallest unit implementing the SEP, as well as royalty stacking. See 2.1 - 2.3 in Annex. There is also a legitimate expectation, based on caselaw, that injunctions and other exclusionary remedies will not be sought by SEP holders, who have made a FRAND commitment, except in rare circumstances, e.g.: - In the Samsung case, the Commission held that ‘seeking’ an injunction can lead to unfair, non-FRAND results, and therefore raise significant competition law concerns. - In Huawei vs ZTE, the CJEU stated that an SEP holder may in principle abuse a dominant position by seeking an injunction against a potential licensee. - Other jurisdictions around the globe have taken similar positions. By making a FRAND promise, SEP holders voluntarily agree to support the promulgation of the standard through licensing to third parties, rather than seeking to restrict the use of the standard by eliminating some market participants via injunctive remedies. At the very least, injunctions should not be available in cases where granting them would be disproportionate – as required under the IPR Enforcement Directive. See 3.1 and 3.2 in Annex. Also, in order to fairly and transparently assess whether licensing terms are indeed FRAND, potential licensees should be entitled to obtain, without demands for excessive secrecy, details regarding the alleged basis and support for the patent holder’s SEP licensing demands. See 4.1 in Annex. And licensors should not be permitted to shift the burden on proof regarding the merits of the alleged SEPs. See 5.1 and 5.2.
Read full response

Meeting with Anthony Whelan (Cabinet of President Ursula von der Leyen)

15 May 2020 · Follow-up of abridged meeting (VC) of 28 April - standard essential patents and appropriate licensing practices for IoT

Meeting with Anthony Whelan (Cabinet of President Ursula von der Leyen)

28 Apr 2020 · Digital Society and Economy and Digital Single Market; introduction of FSA; key issues of importance to their membership on licensing of SEPs

Meeting with Fabrice Comptour (Cabinet of Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska)

27 Oct 2017 · FRAND

Response to Standard Essential Patents for a European digitalised economy

8 May 2017

Please find attached the response to the consultation submitted on behalf of the Fair Standards Alliance. We remain available to discuss any further questions you may have. Best regards
Read full response

Meeting with Friedrich Wenzel Bulst (Cabinet of Commissioner Margrethe Vestager)

5 May 2017 · SEP Licensing

Meeting with Maximilian Strotmann (Cabinet of Vice-President Andrus Ansip)

5 May 2017 · SEP licensing

Meeting with Maximilian Strotmann (Cabinet of Vice-President Andrus Ansip)

30 Jun 2016 · DSM, standardisation