FRAND in India: Emerging Developments

FRAND in India: Emerging Developments

Kirti Gupta (Qualcomm, Inc.)
Abstract:       There is an ongoing debate about the Intellectual Property Rights (“IPR”) policies of major Standard Setting Organizations (“SSOs”) and how the licensing disputes related to the valuation of IPR related to standards, or the Standard Essential Patents (“SEPs”) should be resolved. The licensing commitments, often based on Fair Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory (“FRAND”) terms, have been the focal point of various discussions and questions abound about their purpose, interpretation and whether or not they need further clarification. At this time of intense global debate, IPR policies related to the newly formed Indian telecommunications standards SSO are in formation, as is the jurisprudence on the FRAND licensing practices — both in the Indian courts and the Indian antitrust authority — the Competition Commission of India (CCI). This article connects the underlying issues of the global dialogue on SSO IPR policies and disputers related to licensing of SEPs to the Indian jurisprudence in formation. What policies India implements and how the jurisprudence evolves is of key importance towards the long term prospects of the wireless and telecommunications technologies that heavily rely on the creation and use of common technology standards.