Dr Martin Schaefer takes a wider view of patent law: “Who decides what FRAND is?” (GRUR 6/2018)

The close collaboration between patent lawyers and solicitors at BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT also makes it possible for two copyright specialists, amongst others Dr. Martin Schaefer to make a critical assessment of one of the most difficult questions of late in patent and competition law regarding copyright. After all, in copyright, there has long been a situation of licensing for mass use similar to that which has now moved into focus in patent law as regarding standard essential patents: “Who decides what FRAND is”? How can standard essential patents be licensed and what are the so-called fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms?

The article presents thoughts on how mechanisms of collective management of copyright could be applied to solve this problem in patent law (GRUR 2018, edition 6, p582 et seq)

For GRUR subscribers the article can be accessed here.