Media Partnership - Patents, standards and innovation: securing Europe’s competitive edge
14-05-2025
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Technical standards help drive innovation and growth by ensuring that interoperable and secure technologies are widely adopted by businesses and consumers. This is even more essential in consideration of the rapid digitalisation and AI transformation impacting all industrial fields.
Patents play a key role in this process by incentivising research and development and making innovative technologies available for standardisation at an early stage. Standardisation of the best possible technical solutions that meet market needs often requires the use of technologies protected by patents. Such patents, which are necessary to comply with a standard, are called Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) and when contributing them to standardisation patent holders typically commit to licensing these SEPs on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms and conditions.
As illustrated by several initiatives taken these last years by national and regional authorities, efforts should be considered to ensure a smooth and balanced relation between the patent and the standard systems which will be beneficial to all stakeholders. A friendly environment for innovation is absolutely key to foster European competitiveness but transparency and predictability are also essential parameters for the security of business transactions. It emphasises the importance of fact-based discussions in order to progress on these sensitive issues.
To this end, the EPO’s Observatory on Patents and Technology has launched a programme exploring the interactions between patents and standards, supported by its internal standard database rich of 5 million documents collected from Standard Developing Organisations. The first outcome will consist in a study revealing insights from a new EPO dataset and an analysis of recent European SEP case law, which will be presented during an event co-hosted with the French IP Office (INPI), in Paris, on 14 May 2025 (limited participation on site but remote participation open to all).
It will support the discussions of four dedicated panels composed of the best experts in data analysis, renown judges and practitioners, and high-level representatives of the industry. This event will also address alternative resolution mechanisms of FRAND disputes, with a particular focus on the UPC’s Patent Mediation and Arbitration Centre whose activities are expected to start in 2025.
Register now to gain valuable insights and shape the future of innovation!
Organised by EPO in cooperation with INPI
Media Partner: Euractiv
Location
Hybrid Event
3 Rue du Dr Lancereaux, 75008 Paris, France
Schedule
14.00 – 14.20 hrs Welcome & Keynote remarks
António Campinos, President, European Patent Office
Pascal Faure, Director General, French Patent and Trademark Office (INPI France)
Klaus Grabinski, President of the Court of Appeal and Chairperson of the Presidium, Unified Patent Court
14.20 – 15.10 hrs
Session 1: Improving transparency at the interface between patents and standards
This session will introduce the EPO’s new SDO citations dataset, providing key insights from the latest study on patents and standards. A panel of experts will discuss the importance of producing sound empirical evidence on the relationship between patents and standards. The panel will also discuss possible applications of the new dataset and assess its impact on innovation, competition, and policy.
Presentation – New EPO dataset on patents and standards
(10 min)
Pere Arque Castells, Stream Leader Legal and Innovation Policy, European Patent Office
Panel discussion
(40 min)
Kirti Gupta, Vice President and Chief Economist of Global Technology, Cornerstone Research
Benno Buehler, Vice President, Charles River Associates Bowman Heiden, Director of the Center for Intellectual Property (CIP), University of Gothenburg
Rudi Bekkers, Professor and Chair of Standardisation and Intellectual Property, Eindhoven University of Technology
15.10 – 16.00 hrs
Session 2: Recent developments in European SEP case law
This session will start with a presentation of the EPO’s empirical study reviewing recent case law on Standard Essential Patents (SEPs). A panel of experts will assess differences and emerging trends in SEP-related case law across Europe, with a particular emphasis on the role of the UPC in shaping jurisprudence. The panel will examine the extent to which courts can effectively deal with FRAND disputes, which are in global nature, despite existing jurisdictional limitations.
Presentation – Study on European SEP caselaw
(10 min)
Justus Baron, Director of BRELA and Research Director, Northwestern University Center on Law, Business, and Economics
Panel discussion
(40 min)
Georg Baumann, Judge, Higher Regional Court of Munich
Georg Picht, Professor of commercial and business law, University of Zurich and fellow, Max Planck Institute for Innovation & Competition
Rian Kalden, Presiding judge of the 2nd panel of the Court of Appeal, Unified Patent Court
Nathalie Sabotier, Judge, Court of Cassation
Richard Meade, Judge, High Court of England and Wales
16.00 – 16.30 hrs Coffee Break
16.30 – 17.30 hrs
Session 3: Alternative Dispute Resolution for SEPs: recipes for success - Panel discussion
This session will explore the role of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in dealing with FRAND disputes, with a particular focus on the UPC Patent Mediation and Arbitration Centre which will launch its activities in 2025. Experts will assess the potential of expedited resolutions through UPC-linked mediation, as well as arbitration’s suitability for resolving FRAND disputes.
Robin Jacob, Professor, University College London
Nicola Dagg, Partner, Kirkland & Ellis International LLP
Aleš Zalar, Director, Patent Mediation and Arbitration Centre, Unified Patent Court
Peter Tochtermann, Judge at the Local Division Mannheim of the Court of First Instance, Unified Patent Court
Richard Vary, Partner, Bird & Bird
Cordula Schumacher, Partner, Arnold Rues
17.30 – 18.30 hrs
Session 4: European competitiveness in a changing global landscape: the role of patents and standards in safeguarding technological sovereignty – Panel Discussion
Panellists will discuss how Europe can leverage its strengths in SEPs, research and regulatory leadership to maintain a competitive edge. The discussion will take into consideration the impact of AI-driven transformation on industry and the importance of ensuring a balanced ecosystem for all players.
Gabriele Mohsler, Vice President Patent Creation Management, Ericsson
Alexander Haertel, Cluster Lead Patents, Deutsche Telekom
Steve Faraji, Head of Litigation, Licenses, Brand Protection, Volkswagen AG
Lyse Brillouet, Chief Intellectual Property Officer, Orange
Sophie Pasquier, Principal Licensing Counsel, Philips
18.30 – 18.35 hrs Closing remarks
Contact
Sébastien de Decker
sebastien.dedecker@euractiv.com