This joint LSE-IPKat event focuses on the interplay between patent law and competition law and will explore the issues arising from the licensing of standard-essential patents (SEPs). Thanks to cutting-edge digital technology, cars and other vehicles are increasingly being described as “smartphones on wheels” - this means manufacturers need to have access to the latest patented 4G and 5G technologies essential to navigation and communications. But often the companies that hold the patents are reluctant to license them because manufacturers/implementers will not accept the high fees involved, which leads to patent disputes and licensing rows. Such rows are now commonplace, but in the past, large car manufacturers often shied away from expensive litigation or formal complaints when issues of patent infringement arose, opting instead to settle out of court. But times have changed. Car makers and their suppliers are becoming more conscious of the role of competition authorities and the legal options available if patent owners abuse their monopolistic rights. In the EU there is a robust body of competition law designed to fight cartels and monopolistic behaviours. One such battle involves Nokia, the Finnish telecoms company, over licences for patented technologies that are essential to standards for navigation, vehicle communications and self-driving cars. A dispute between Nokia and Daimler over what amounts to Fair Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory (FRAND) licensing terms has recently been referred to the CJEU. The panel will discuss this upcoming case and wider SEP issues framed by the following specific topics a. manufacturing realities b. commercial realities c. legal realities d. economic realities and e. what are the referred questions to the CJEU in Nokia v Daimler and how do they relate to the above?
Speakers:
The Rt Hon Sir Christopher Floyd
Judge Klepsch (Presiding Judge in 4C Civil Chamber, Dusseldorf Regional Court)
Pat Treacy (Deputy High Court Judge and competition partner, Bristows)
Dr. Roman Bonn (Global Head of IP, Continental AG)
Alexandra Yang (Partner, Fangda Partners)
Rebekka Porath (Global IP Policy Director, Intel)
Eeva Hakoranta (EVP and Chief Licensing Officer, Interdigital)
Sven Völcker (Partner, Latham & Watkins)
Tim Syrett (Partner, WilmerHale)
Frantzeska Papadopoulou (IPKat; Associate Professor, Stockholm University and Linnaeus University)
Luke Mcdonagh (Associate Professor, LSE)
The Rt Hon Sir Christopher Floyd Sir Christopher Floyd is a retired judge of the Court of Appeal for England and Wales where he served from April 2013 until February 2021. From October 2018 he was the supervising judge for intellectual property cases in the Court of Appeal. From 2007 to 2013 he was a judge of the Chancery Division of the High Court, a judge and subsequently judge in charge of the Patents Court, and a Deputy Chairman of the Competition Appeal Tribunal. He now advises on in intellectual property law from chambers at 11 South Square, Gray’s Inn, and is an Honorary Professor, Faculty of Laws, University College London.
Pat Treacy (Deputy High Court Judge and competition partner, Bristows): Pat has advised on SEP and FRAND issues, including the evolution of the IP policies of ETSI and other standardisation bodies, since the early 1990s. Pat has acted in many cases involving FRAND and related SEP valuation issues both in national courts and before the EU competition authorities. She has advised both licensors/SEP owners and licensee/implementers. Pat has also represented patent pools, again in relation to standard essential technologies, including licensing, negotiation and dispute strategies. Pat is a member of the Competition Law Association; the UK Association of European Lawyers; and the Competition Section of the Law Society. She is on the editorial board of the Journal of Intellectual Property Law and Practice and of Competition Law Insight and teaches competition law on the Post Graduate Diploma in Intellectual Property Law offered by Oxford University.
Dr. Roman Bonn (Global Head fo IP, Continental AG):Dr. Bonn is the Senior Vice President of Intellectual Property at Continental Automative AG and a German and European Patent and Trademark attorney. Prior to joining Continental, he was the head of IP teams and I counsel at Siemens AG. He has a masters degree in Physics and doctorate in engineering from the Technical University Darmstadt and University Kassel, respectively.
Alexandra Yang (Partner, Fangda Partners):Alexandra Yang is one of China’s premier IP litigators. As a recognized consulting expert to the Chinese Supreme Court’s IP Research Center, she has extensive experience in every area of IP law, including patent, copyright, trademark, and trade secrets. Ms. Yang represents many Fortune 500 companies and leading technology companies in their most important matters, such as Apple v. Qualcomm, Apple v. IWNCOMM, Apple v. iRobot, Intel v. VLSI, Microsoft v. Neodron, Cisco v. Dunjun, Facebook v. Wireless Wonders, Xperi v. Samsung, Eli Lilly v. Watson, Power Integrations v. Fairchild, , Telsa v. Gao and New Balance v. Zhou. She has taken more than ten cases to trial in the Supreme Court, with four recognized as “Annual Top Cases” by the Supreme Court. She handled the Eli Lilly v. Watson case before the Supreme Court which is the only invention patent case being recognized as a “Guidance Case” by the Supreme Court from 2010 to 2020. Ms. Yang is the only lawyer in China who was selected as the tier 1 litigator by IAM Patent 1000 and WTR in 2020, recognizing her extensive experience in the field of intellectual property litigation.
Rebekka Porath (Global IP Policy Director, Intel):Rebekka Porath is Global IP Policy Director at Intel. She is based in Germany, and has been working for Intel for the past eleven years. Before assuming her current responsibilities for the company’s worldwide IP policy strategy, she has engaged on a variety of policy topics, with an emphasis on standards policy and IP policy. Rebekka is a member of the Board of Governors of the IEEE Standards Association, and representative of DIGITALEUROPE in the European Commission’s Multi-Stakeholder Platform for ICT Standardization. Prior to joining Intel, she has been a staff member of the CTO Office of the Consumer Electronics division of Philips, where she was responsible for coordinating the division’s portfolio of standards engagements. Rebekka holds a PhD in Theoretical Physics from the Bonn University.
The event is being moderated by James Nurton (co-founder of Lextel Partners). James Nurton is a writer and editor specialising in intellectual property law, business and policy. From January 1996 to October 2017 he worked for Managing Intellectual Property, latterly as managing editor responsible for all the editorial content in Managing IP magazine, managingip.com, conference newspapers, social media and at events.James is now a freelance editor and writer. He has written articles and reports published by WIPO Magazine, EUIPO Alicante News, Bloomsbury Professional Publishing, WIPR, World Trademark Review and The Patent Lawyer magazine, and contributed to the book ‘The Great Catapult: How Integrated IP Management Will Shoot Your Brand to Success’ written by Zeeger Vink. James is editorial consultant for MARQUES and host of the Talking MARQUES podcast. He is a co-founder of Lextel Partners, a consultancy providing editorial and thought leadership services to law firms and other professional service providers.