Draft European rules aimed at simplifying patent rules for technical in “connected” cars and smartphones have divided opinion among industry leaders and lawyers. In January, the European parliament agreed new rules for “standard essential patents”, or SEPs. These are for technologies that have been declared essential to implement a technical standard — for example, 5G, WiFi or Bluetooth connectivity.
“If anything, it will result in delays in licensing, which would deprive holders of of revenue necessary to contribute to future development of technology,” she says. A better alternative, she suggests, would be using “patent pools” — voluntary industry agreements for organising the licensing of multiple technical standards. Mobile phone chipmaker Qualcomm also has a vast SEP collection and its chief licensing lawyer, Fabian Gonell, acknowledges that SEP rules are far from perfect.