Standard essential patents (SEP) claim an invention
We bring you Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) Search Service, where we combine the expertise of our seasoned professionals with the cutting-edge power of AI technology to bring you unmatched assistance in discovering undiscovered SEPs within your portfolio. Avoid the risks of using standard/non-core technologies and unknowingly infringing SEP without licensing, by allowing us to identify and mitigate those risks for you.
Our Methodology
The Standard Setting Organizations (SSO) don’t determine the essentiality of patents, these disputes typically visit trial wherein a courtroom decides the essentiality of a patent. The patents are often grouped together, so licensees pay considerable Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) licensing fees. Unfortunately, not all of those patents qualify as SEPs. Performing an effective essentiality check can be hard to achieve because of the complexity of patent claims and their relationship with standards.Â
TT Consultants has collected worldwide standards datasets of various SSOs and developed search tools that facilitate the search for patented subject matter in declared standards to check the essentiality of a SEP pool.Â
Many enterprises, especially those owning huge patent portfolios, are unaware about potential SEP patents concealed in their portfolio. Many times, possible SEPs are missed and never reach its SEP declaration stage. The company suffers a great loss due to this negligence by losing thousands, which they could earn in SEPs licensing fees each year. Hence, it is very critical to identify the missed SEPs by proper review of the portfolio. We here at TT Consultants follow various effective methodologies like deeper evaluation of technical description in order to overrule the chance of missing any possible SEP. The standards are always updating, which is another challenge, so our time performs a vigilant search of these updated standards so that nothing slips away from our hands.Â
Standards are updated on a regular basis, so the service involves critical analysis of updated versions of standard specifications overlapping with features of the claim. Patents that map to a standard are extremely valuable since all items that comply with the standard are valued. So, TT Consultants is very conscious of providing a high-quality service for such high a value matter. We have our in-house database, which holds latest data related to various standard specifications along with an extremely talented team which performs a comprehensive digging on SSOs websites for locating the updated data. ​
In view of the complexity of standard technologies and the abundance of information, it is quite difficult to identify prior arts for SEP patents. ​
We have developed a repository of the entire standard dataset technical specifications, change requests, meeting docs, etc., and made it searchable using advanced search operators.​
We assist clients in preparing a solid claim chart that entails a thorough mapping of claims to the relevant standard. ​
Our domain experts create strong claim charts to ascertain the overlap of the standard technology with the patented subject matter.Â
Clients Testimonials
We worked with TT Consultants on several SEP patent analysis projects and found the entire team to be very professional and capable of producing high-quality results at a reasonable cost for our clients. They were able to meet tight deadlines and produce high-quality work in a matter of days. I would be happy to collaborate with you on additional projects in the future, and I would also suggest their services to others.
The searcher realized that there was confusion about the scope of the prior art search for a SEP patent based on prosecution history analysis of the target patent and its counterparts. On his own initiative, the team reached out to me to discuss the details of the search (even though it was late at night for the team). The subsequent prior art search results were dead-on. Highly recommended to others.
Impact Stories
TT Consultants was recently tasked with doing SEP essentiality analysis for a pool of patents in the wireless sector. We did a thorough hybrid study using our proprietary intelligence tool XLPAT essentiality check module to identify applicable SEP and corresponding standards that overlapped with the claims of the target patents. With all of the information gathered, our client was able to easily identify not only the minute but also the critical parts before investing and planning its future investment roadmap for SEP patents.
A European smartphone manufacturer hired TT Consultants to assess the legality of a set of Standard Essential Patent (SEP) patents. The target SEP patents were in the domain of 5G wireless communication. We at TT Consultants believe that in order to invalidate a SEP, a search must be conducted for both patents and non-patents, such as 3GPP meeting documents, IEEE meetings, ETSI standards, and many others. We were able to identify prior arts in many of the target patents in a timely and cost-effective manner by using our proprietary standard searching module XLPAT, which effectively consolidates meeting documents from 20+ SSOs.
Standard essential patents (SEP) claim an invention
Standard-essential Patents: the patents which are the
The sharing of knowledge and patent portfolios
IN THE NEWS
A standard essential patent (SEP) is a patent that claims an invention that is essential to a standard. These standards frequently refer to technologies which are protected under the patent regime.​
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Standards are technical requirements or specifications that seek to provide a common design for a product or process.
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Patents which are essential to a standard and have been adopted by a Standard Setting Organization (SSO) are known as SEPs.
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In short, A standard essential patent (SEP) is a patent which can be properly mapped onto a mandatory industry standard such that a product which conforms to that standard infringes the patent.​
Examples include USB, Wi-Fi, wireless charging, 5G, LTE, H.265, and JPEG.​
Patents provide incentives for research, development and facilitate knowledge transfers and standards ensure the rapid diffusion of technologies and the interoperability between products.​
A standard essential patent starts out as a typical patent and becomes essential to a given standard usually when it is declared to be essential by one of the contributing participants of the standard.​
Over-declaration happens when a patent owner asserts that patents are essential to a standard, but the standard can be implemented without implicating the patents. This can result in companies negotiating and paying for licenses for which they don’t need to pay, and can have the effect of causing companies to overpay.​
The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS)​
As part of the standard-setting process, and sometimes as part of the process of declaring a patent to be essential to the standard, the contributors of a technology who own patents on the technology agree to license the patent on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms pursuant to the policies of a standards-setting organization, sometimes abbreviated as FRAND.​
Standard-setting organizations (SSOs) are responsible for creating and maintaining technical standards for various industries. They play a critical role in the SEP process by defining what technology is necessary to comply with these standards, including SEPs. SSOs also establish guidelines for how SEPs should be licensed, such as under fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms.Â
Yes, companies that hold SEPs may be required to license them to competitors under FRAND terms. This is because SEPs are considered essential to complying with industry standards, and withholding access to them could harm competition and innovation in the market. However, the terms of the license must be fair and reasonable, and non-discriminatory towards all parties seeking to license the technology.Â
Determining whether a patent is an SEP can be complex and requires an understanding of the relevant industry standards. Typically, a company should consult with industry experts and legal counsel to determine whether their patent covers technology that is essential to complying with an industry standard. If the patent is found to be essential, the company may need to disclose the patent to the relevant standard-setting organization and offer licenses to competitors under FRAND terms.
Violating FRAND commitments for SEPs can result in legal and financial consequences for a company. In some cases, a company may face antitrust litigation or regulatory action if they engage in anti-competitive behavior by withholding access to their SEPs or charging discriminatory licensing fees. Additionally, breaching FRAND commitments can harm a company's reputation and relationships with industry partners, which can impact their ability to compete in the market.Â