Consultation on Standard Essential Patents

Overview

Since 2021, the IPO has gathered evidence to better understand whether the current SEPs ecosystem effectively promotes innovation and competition in the UK market.  

This evidence indicates that there are some issues that may impact on the efficient functioning of the SEP ecosystem, mainly due to the lack of transparency around SEP pricing, asymmetric information concerning SEP licensing, the essentiality of patents in technical standards and a growing and complex litigious environment.   

Government is consulting on how to address these issues in the SEPs ecosystem by seeking views on a range of proportionate measures that creates a balanced ecosystem for all parties involved.   

Government will also provide additional opportunities to engage on this consultation to help ensure that the full range of views is heard. 

This consultation will run for 12 weeks. It commences on 15 July 2025 and will close on 7 October 2025.

Why your views matter

Your responses to the questions set out in this consultation will help us improve the quality of our analysis and support the government design the best possible policy to achieve the aims and objectives set out in this consultation. 

Wherever possible, please provide evidence to support your comments. If you would like to provide any documents as evidence then please email them to SEPs@ipo.gov.uk, quoting your survey response ID (which you will receive once your have submitted your response to the consultation). 

Data protection and confidentiality 

A summary of responses to this consultation will be published on GOV.UK. The government considers it important in the interests of transparency that the public can see who has responded to government consultation and what their views are. 

By responding to this consultation, you acknowledge that your response, along with your name and/or organisation may be made public. Responses to the consultation may be published in accordance with the access to information regimes. These are primarily the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) and the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). 

Additionally, information provided in response to this consultation, including personal information or commercially sensitive information, may be made available to the public on request in accordance with the requirements of FOIA. 

If you wish to highlight that information is confidential or sensitive, please advise us in writing when you provide your response. If there is a request to make any confidential information publicly available, we will consider the request according to the appropriate legislation. We will treat each request individually and in line with any request to maintain confidentiality. 

The Government may also publish consultation responses in response to any FOIA requests on GOV.UK. Please read the privacy statement and privacy notice for consultation for more information. This notice also provides information on how the IPO may use AI tools to process your personal data.