Standard Essential Patents (SEP) Licensing Questionnaire for SMEs

Closed 24 Apr 2023

Opened 21 Mar 2023

Contact

UK: 030 0300 2000 / Outside the UK: +44 (0)1633 814000 / textphone: 0300 0200 015

sepcallforviews@ipo.gov.uk

Overview

Introduction

The UK Intellectual Property Office led a call for views to gather evidence on whether the framework around standard essential patents (SEPs) is functioning efficiently and effectively and strikes the right balance for all businesses involved. Following the conclusion of the call for views, the Government published a Summary of Responses in August 2022, available here: 

SEPs call for views outcome

Some respondents to the call for views stated that the SEPs licensing framework is working well, as evidenced by the fast adoption of connected technologies. On the other hand, some respondents said that the current framework creates issues or barriers to innovation, particularly for smaller businesses and start-ups. We heard of lack of transparency in the licensing system, lack of transparency in pricing of SEPs, and uncertainty around whether a patent being licensed is essential to technical standards being relied upon. There were also respondents who said that threats of court-imposed injunctions and the potential for litigation impacted on businesses’ approach to licensing of SEPs. However, we did not hear sufficient evidence directly from UK SMEs, small-cap and mid-cap businesses, including their experiences of interacting or using technical standards when innovating.

We are now inviting smaller businesses, SME, small-cap and mid-cap innovators to respond to a short questionnaire covering the issues above, designed for their needs. To assist you in the completion of this questionnaire, a short instructive video is available to watch SEPs - the detail

The questions you are shown will depend on your answers as you move through the questionnaire. The questionnaire should take 5-15 minutes to complete, depending on your answers and whether you decide to provide optional additional information.

If you have any further questions, would like to speak directly with the IPO about completing the questionnaire, or would prefer to share your experiences via email or phone call, please contact: sepcallforviews@ipo.gov.uk.

The questionnaire will be available until 23:59 hrs on 24 April 2023. Once closed, the responses will be analysed, and a summary published later in the year on GOV.UK.

Background

A technical standard is an agreed or established technical description of an idea, product, service, or way of doing things where you need to share the understanding with others. These are usually produced by standard developing organisations (SDOs), established for the purpose of creating standards, with inputs from industry and technical experts. Trade bodies, government organisations and similar entities can also create technical standards. Technical standards can include WiFi standards, cellular, Bluetooth, video or audio technical standards.

Technical standards and patents can span across multiple disciplines and sectors. In some cases, standards require the use of specific technologies protected by patents. A patent that protects technology which is essential to implementing a standard is known as a standard essential patent (SEP).

Without using the methods or devices protected by these SEPs, it is difficult for a manufacturer (or “implementer” of the standard) to create standard-compliant products, such as smartphones or tablets.

More detailed guidance is available.

Data protection

Information you provide in response to this questionnaire may be made available to the public on request in accordance with UK legislation (the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA), the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR)). There will be an option in the questionnaire to opt for the information that you provide to be treated as confidential. However, please be aware that we cannot guarantee confidentiality in all circumstances.

Please read the privacy statement for more information.

What happens next

The questionnaire will be available until 23:59 hrs on 24 April 2023. Once closed, the responses will be analysed, and a summary of themes will be published later in the year on GOV.UK.

Data protection

Information you provide in response to this questionnaire may be made available to the public on request in accordance with UK legislation (the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA), the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR)). There will be an option in the questionnaire to opt for the information that you provide to be treated as confidential. However, please be aware that we cannot guarantee confidentiality in all circumstances.

Please read the privacy statement for more information.