Arbitration of FRAND Disputes in SEP Licensing: Towards Global Substantive and Procedural Rules

Standard Essential Patented Technology has a widespread and essential application, a prominent example being smartphones. However, more often than not, SEP technology is used alongside ordinary patented technology for the formation of, say, an electronic system. Moreover, there are key differences between SEP and ordinary patents, including the preferred method and duration of dispute resolution. The objectives of this article are, first, to discuss the differences between SEP and ordinary patents. From there on, the article shifts its focus to SEP. It explores the characteristics of SEP, the stance of stakeholders involved in SEP licensing, arbitration as a method of resolving SEP disputes and the necessity of the timely resolution of such disputes. The US, the EU, India and China are the four jurisdictions that have been extensively covered while analysing the aforementioned sub-themes. In the ongoing digital age, it has become imperative to find solutions and explore avenues for a peaceful co-existence among the various SEP stakeholders given its widespread licensing demand. Therefore, the discussion in this article is important to understand the distinct features and the dispute resolution mechanism for SEPs.