To pay, or not to pay: That is the question?
Remember the so called „Smartphone-Wars” in the years 2010-2014? At that time, and for the first time, a huge number of standard essential patents (SEPs) was enforced between competitors with many examples of substantial royalties. Today the number of SEPs has “normalised” and it is more a case of “business as usual” (with some notable exceptions).
Automation and digitalisation of cars (the “phone on wheels”) has brought the automotive industry unexpectedly into the same arena as the telecom industry and their respective licensing models. “Smartphone Wars 2.0“ is now a reality.
The first waves of complaints have reached the automotive field and now is the time to take stock, not just of the legal situation, but also the strategy and future developments that will help your organisation.
Join our Automotive Patent Wars IP event and meet other in-house IP professionals to discuss the following questions and more:
- Is it “Smartphone Wars 2.0 – the automotive industry” or are we talking about something completely different?
- Licensing practice and licensing customs of the automotive industry come from a different world – but how do you best deal with the new issues?
- Is it accepted that payments must be rendered and are we only talking about the correct, that means fitting, way to handle?
- Are we being driven back to payments again, which means to the right amount (smallest saleable unit?)
- Can we de-couple the amount of the royalty from the position of the product in the supply chain
- How do you react effectively and strategically when faced with a patent attack – you are hard-pressed to refer to any existing portfolios within the automotive industry!
