Seminar by Igor Nicolic (UCL), 25/10/2016

Οn Tuesday the 25th of October at 11:00 GMT (i.e.12:00 Amsterdam time, 13:00 Athens time) ΤΙΜΕ-ΜΒΕ and the TECHNIS research group jointly present a webinar. The presenter will be Igor Nicolic (UCL). The title of the talk is "Alternative Remedies to Injunctions in Standard Essential Patents Disputes".

The webminar program we use is VSee. A one minute video with instructions on how to run VSee can be found in our webpage at http://technisnet.org/seminars.html (scroll down a bit). 

Remember to login to VSee a couple of minutes before we start, and keep in mind that it is usually convenient to have a pair of headphones with a mic and a good camera. When the seminar starts you are kindly asked to turn your microphone off as to block surrounding noise.

If you have any queries email panagopoulos@uoc.gr, or andreas.panagopoulos@gmail.com

Abstract:

·         The possibility to seek and obtain injunctions for the infringement of Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) is limited in both the US and the EU. The reasons for restricting the use of injunctions is due to concern of patent holdup, i.e. the possibility of SEP holder to force standard-implementers to accept onerous licensing terms, exceeding patent’s true economic value, as well as seeing injunctions as incompatible with the commitment given by the patent holder that it will license its SEPs on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms.
·         Limiting the use of injunctions by SEP holders may enable implementers to engage in a holdout, i.e. delaying taking a license for as long as possible, forcing the patentee to engage in expensive and protracted litigation in order to settle for below FRAND terms.
·         Instead of focusing on injunctions, courts may use some procedural remedies in SEP disputes to restore the balance between the interests of patent holders and implementers. Courts could, at the beginning of the trial, order the defendant to make interim payments into escrow, or provide another type of security, reflecting the value of SEP holder’s whole portfolio, and not just for the patents in the litigation. Interim payment would secure the interests of SEP holders and make holdout strategy more costly, while at the same time dispense the need for injunctions and mitigate the concern about holdup.