Consultation on Standard Essential Patents

Closes 7 Oct 2025

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Potential measure 5a: Remedies and dispute resolution

The SEPs Resource Hub brings together guidance to help UK businesses, particularly SMEs, navigate the SEPs ecosystem. We included guidance on dispute resolution and remedies in SEP licensing, to help businesses develop a better understanding of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) services and legal remedies when there are licensing disputes.  

The IPO has continued to undertake further research on dispute resolution and remedies in SEP licensing, to ensure we can identify ways of achieving greater efficiency in dispute resolution. 

We want to gather further evidence on the possible use of legal remedies, and the awareness and suitability of ADR services to resolve SEPs disputes.  

Remedies  

The patent framework offers various remedies for patent infringement. The remedies used for SEPs disputes generally include damages to compensate for infringement; injunctions to stop infringement; and FRAND determinations.  

The evidence suggests that most SEP holders believe that the legal remedies available to them are both necessary and used appropriately. The government understands the importance of an IP framework that ensures rightsholders can effectively enforce their rights and that relevant frameworks comply with international legal obligations. However, licensees have consistently raised concerns about the leveraging of injunction threats to extract excessive licence rates. We want to understand how widespread the practice is, and the extent to which it is a barrier to innovation.  

32. Does the current patent framework provide adequate remedies for SEP litigation?
33. How can bad behaviours in licensing negotiations be addressed or prevented?
34. Has the threat of injunctions ever played a part in your SEP negotiations?
35. If you believe the threat of injunctions had an impact on your SEP negotiations, please explain what that impact was, providing appropriate data and evidence.
36. Could the other proposals presented by the government in this consultation help deal with ‘bad faith’ behaviours, including the threat of injunctions?