Patents provide incentives for research and development, and facilitate knowledge transfers. Standards ensure the rapid diffusion of technologies and the interoperability between products. Patents that protect technology essential to a standard are known as standard-essential patents (SEPs). The intellectual property (IP) rights policy of the European Telecommunication Standards Institute (ETSI) defines essentiality as follows: "A patent is described as 'essential' when it is not possible on technical grounds to make or operate equipment or methods that comply with a standard without infringing a Standard Essential Patent (SEP), i.e., without using technologies covered by one or more patents."
The India IP SME Helpdesk team has published a brand-new factsheet focusing on the SEP framework in India. This factsheet also highlights the challenges in the domain of SEPs, as well as other IP-related challenges.
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Details
- Publication date
- 20 June 2024
- Author
- European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency