EU

IP Europe blogs on the new SEP Regulation – Part 2

As the SEP Regulation moves through the European legislative process, experts continue to question whether the draft Regulation (a) responds to the concerns raised by the Commission and (b) whether the concerns motivating development of the Regulation exist, based on evidence.

IP Europe has published a series of blogs arguing that the Commission is pushing through new legislation without evidence indicating there is a need for such action. In the third blog, IP Europe focuses on SMEs arguing that that SMEs’ involvement litigation regarding SEPs is rare. The author suggests the Commission may have theorized the problems that SEP litigation is causing for SMEs rather than relying on empirical evidence to form conclusions. In the fourth blog, aggregate royalties is the focus. The author points to the Commission’s perception that there is an absence of information about SEPs and licensing, and thus more SEP disputes, when in reality the Commission’s own impact assessment does not support this. In the fifth blog of the series, IP Europe argues that there is no support for the Commission’s claim that the dispute resolution system for SEP-related disputes is flawed, once again questioning the need for the new Regulation.

Click here to read blogs 3, 4 and 5.

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IP Europe blogs on the new SEP Regulation – Part 1

As the SEP Regulation is moving through the European legislative process, questions have been raised as to whether the draft Regulation (a) responds to the concerns raised by the Commission and (b) whether the concerns motivating development of the Regulation exist, based on evidence.

IP Europe has released a series of blogs arguing that the Commission are pushing through new legislation without evidence to support the decision. In the first two blogs, the author notes that the Commission appear to have ‘cherry picked’ the evidence that supports the Regulation and has focused on complaints by larger technology companies rather than taking an impartial view of the situation. Furthermore, the IP Europe blogs present data indicating that SEP litigation and FRAND disputes are generally declining, another basis for questioning the need for the new Regulation.

Click here to read blog 1 and 2 from the series.

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New EU Regulatory Regime for SEPs Will Upend Mobile Telecommunications Sector

This article from IP scholar Adam Mossoff presents the proposed EU SEP Regulation, which is due to be released on 26 April by DG GROW.

According to Mossoff, the leaked SEP Regulation would be counterproductive to a range of European goals, including ongoing innovation in cellular technology and a central role in standardization. He points out that available evidence suggests that, at best, the SEP Regulation is unnecessary – and that, at worst, it could stunt innovation and economic growth in the EU in the years to come.

A concern raised by the author is that the EUIPO has no previous patent law experience, yet the SEP Regulation plans to hand full control of important SEP issues to the EUIPO. The EUIPO would determine what patents are able to be classed as essential, thus, SEPs, along with the appropriate royalty rates for licensing such SEPs, in addition to mandating public disclosure of licensing agreements. Furthermore, it would also be able to prohibit licensing or litigation of SEPs that have
not been confirmed as essential, that have not been registered, or that have set a different royalty rate for the relevant SEPs.

The author argues that, if adopted, the SEP Regulation would destabilize the global telecommunications market as well as strongly favouring IP users over innovators.

Furthermore, Mossoff notes that this type of regulation could be advantageous for China, which could leverage it to continue discriminatory treatment against Western innovators in cellular technology. Overall, he expresses concern that the new EU SEP Regulation would negatively affect technological innovation and economic growth in the EU by destroying incentives for SEP owners to continue investing in R&D and participating in open standardization processes.

Click here to read the full article:

New EU Regulatory Regime for SEPs will Upend Mobile Telecommunications Sector, by Adam Mossoff, 12 April 2023, IPWatchdog.

For further reading, additional resources about the leaked SEP Regulation include:

The European Commission’s SEP licensing plans are terrible on every level, by Joff Wild, 30 March 2023, IAM.

Exclusive: EU patent body to oversee tech-standard patent royalties – EU draft rule, by Foo Yun Chee, 28 March 2023, Reuters.

European Commission departs from best practices in hasty preparation of standard-essential patent proposal that is fundamentally flawed and unbalanced, by Florian Mueller, 29 March 2023, FOSS Patents.

European Commission to propose radical new SEP/FRAND regime with major consequences for patent owners, by Adam Houldsworth, 29 March 2023, IAM.

European Commission set to give EUIPO responsibility for standard essential patents: big challenges lie ahead, by Trevor Little, 29 March 2023, World Trademark Review.

Proposed EU SEP regulation will also harm net licensees: implementers of standard-essential patents must be careful what they wish for, by Florian Mueller, 2 April 2023, FOSS Patents.

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EU Global Health Strategy

The Commission adopted on November 30 a new EU Global Health Strategy to improve global health security and deliver better health for all in a changing world. The Strategy positions global health as an essential pillar of EU external policy, a critical sector geopolitically and central to EU strategic autonomy.

Click here to read more.

 

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Global Health – New EU Strategy 

A new EU Global Health Strategy (GHS) to be developed this year has been developed to ensure that the EU remains an effective and progressive global health player, delivering on its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and continuing its commitment to promote healthy lives and well-being for all. 

There are various opportunities to contribute to EU law-making as it evolves – from the preparation phase through to proposals for new laws and evaluations of how existing EU laws are performing. The Commission has invited stakeholders to share their views and ideas about the Global Health Strategy on the Have Your Say portal

You can learn more by watching the Global Health Policy Forum which allowed for interventions from stakeholders on how to develop the EU Global Health Strategy, or you can click here for more information.

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Center for Global Development series on the EU-Africa Summit

On February 17th, the long-awaited summit between the African Union (AU) and the European Union (EU), delayed since 2020, finally began. But in the time since the first event was scheduled, the world was ravaged by a pandemic that is estimated to have stalled a decade of continuous growth and human capital improvement on the African continent.

The Center for Global Development prepared an excellent series on the EU-Africa Summit consisting of mini reports by CGD experts about the various joint priorities set out by the AU and the EU. The series offers compelling analysis and commentary on the actions needed in order for a meaningful reconstruction of the relationship between the two continents to materialize.

Find the series here.

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EU Commission puts forward declaration on digital rights and principles

The European Commission is proposing to the European Parliament and Council to sign up to a declaration of rights and principles that will guide the digital transformation in the EU.

The draft declaration on digital rights and principles aims to give everyone a clear reference point about the kind of digital transformation Europe promotes and defends. It will also provide a guide for policy makers and companies when dealing with new technologies. The rights and freedoms enshrined in the EU’s legal framework, and the European values expressed by the principles, should be respected online as they are offline. Once jointly endorsed, the Declaration will also define the approach to the digital transformation which the EU will promote throughout the world.

Read the full story.

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EU and WTO members strike major deal to simplify trade in services

A group of 67 World Trade Organization (WTO) members, including the EU, have today concluded negotiations on a landmark agreement to cut red tape in services trade. The so-called Joint Initiative on Services Domestic Regulation will simplify unnecessarily complicated regulations and ease procedural hurdles faced by SMEs in particular. This agreement will help reduce the costs of global services trade by more than USD 150 billion every year. This is the first WTO deliverable in the area of trade in services in a very long time. Good regulatory practices are crucial for the functioning of today’s economy.

Read the full story

 

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2021 State of the Union Address by President von der Leyen

In her State of the Union Address on September 15, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, emphasised the need for Europe to focus on long-term innovation priorities, and to connect them to key green and digital goals. She stated that the EU has the necessary innovation and science capabilities, but needs to create the right conditions to foster innovation. This is particularly important for Europe’s planned digital transformation and in regard to the growing demand for chips, she said, and should be addressed through the European Chips Act, which will invest in European technology sovereignty, strengthen global supply chains, and develop new investment projects for green and digital technologies as part of the European Green Deal.

Read the full story.

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