Essential patent

Essential patent

An essential patent is a patent which discloses and claims one or more inventions that are required to practice a given industry standard. [ [http://faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/shapiro/thicket.pdf Shapiro, Carl, “Navigating the Patent Thicket: Cross Licenses, Patent Pools, and Standard-Setting”, forthcoming Innovation Policy and the Economy, Volume I, MIT Press, 2001] ] Standardisation bodies, therefore, often require members disclose and grant licenses to patents and pending patent applications that they own and that cover a standard that the body is developing. Failure to do so is a form of patent misuse.

If standards bodies fail to get licenses to all patents that are essential to practicing a standard, then the owners of those unlicensed patents can often demand royalties from those who ultimately adopt the standards. This is what happened, for example, to the GIF and JPEG standards.

References

See also

* Patent ambush, a situation where a member of a standards organization withholds information about patents they own during development of a proposed standard and subsequently claims them to be relevant to the standard as adopted.
* Patent pool
* Patent thicket

External links

* " [http://www.abanet.org/antitrust/at-committees/at-exemc/pdf/liability.pdf Potential Antitrust Liability Based on a Patent Owner's Manipulation of Industry Standard Setting] ", "Proceedings of ABA Antitrust Section Spring Meeting" (2003) by Janice M. Mueller.
* " [http://www.law.berkeley.edu/journals/btlj/articles/vol17/mueller.pdf Patent Misuse Through the Capture of Industry Standards] ", 17 "Berkeley Tech. L.J." 623 (2002) by Janice M. Mueller.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Patent ambush — A patent ambush is where a member of a standardisation body withholds information about patents it owns, has pending, or intends to file during the development of a proposed standard and subsequently claims them to be relevant to the standard as… …   Wikipedia

  • Patent pool — In patent law, a patent pool is a consortium of at least two companies agreeing to cross license patents relating to a particular technology. The creation of a patent pool can save patentees and licensees time and money, and, in case of blocking… …   Wikipedia

  • Patent thicket — A patent thicket is a dense web of overlapping intellectual property rights that a company must hack its way through in order to actually commercialize new technology. [ Carl Shapiro, [http://faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/shapiro/thicket.pdf… …   Wikipedia

  • patent pool — noun 1. : a pool or combination in which the agreements are enforced by centralized control of essential patent rights 2. : an arrangement of cross licensing in which several patent owners join together to make individually held patents available …   Useful english dictionary

  • patent — pat·ent 1 / pat ənt3 also pāt / adj [Anglo French, from Latin patent patens, from present participle of patēre to be open] 1 a: open to public inspection see also letters patent at letter 2 …   Law dictionary

  • patent pending — n. A notice placed on an object informing others that its inventor has applied for a patent on it and is awaiting the government’s decision. The Essential Law Dictionary. Sphinx Publishing, An imprint of Sourcebooks, Inc. Amy Hackney Blackwell.… …   Law dictionary

  • patent infringement — Under the Patents Act 1977, where the patented invention is a product, it is infringed if the infringer, without the patentee s permission, makes, disposes of, offers to dispose of, uses or commercialises products embodying the invention in the… …   Law dictionary

  • essential — Ⅰ. essential UK US /ɪˈsenʃəl/ adjective ► very important or necessary: »Computer literacy is becoming as essential as the ability to drive a car. an essential component/part of sth »Selective expansion of our store base is an essential component… …   Financial and business terms

  • Patent and Trademark Office — n. The federal agency that issues patents and trademarks as part of the Department of Commerce. The Essential Law Dictionary. Sphinx Publishing, An imprint of Sourcebooks, Inc. Amy Hackney Blackwell. 2008. Patent and Trademark Office …   Law dictionary

  • patent claims — A patent specification must contain a drawing or a verbal description and claims describing the essential inventive elements comprising the invention. Their drafting must be precise and is a job for a patent agent they must be neither too broad… …   Law dictionary

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”