Welcome to the latest edition of the Sisvel Insights weekly round-up, aggregating news stories, analyses and data points affecting the SEP world that have caught our eye over the past seven days

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Deliberate hold-out by licensees has long been identified by SEP holders as a major issue that gets far too little attention from policy makers. One of the problems has always been quantifying the damage it does. That may now change.

A study published by Bowman Heiden and Justus Baron – and featured on Sisvel Insights last week – is the first to look at the direct and indirect financial impact that hold-out strategies have on SEP licensors, a large number of which have invested huge sums in the R&D necessary to create the standardised technologies that so many rely on. In cellular alone, Heiden and Baron find, the annual cost of hold-out as of 2021 was between $7 billion and $28 billion. That is serious money.

Unfortunately, hold-out looks rational from an economic perspective when remedies such as injunctions and/or enhanced damages are available only in exceptional circumstances. But as challenging as litigation is, hold-out leaves few other options on the table for SEP holders. If you do not file suit, the choice is either agreeing to sub-FRAND royalties or walking away with nothing at all.

Elsewhere, Huawei became the latest HEVC patent holder to launch infringement action against Transsion at the UPC; and there was news that the Indian government is considering the creation of a telecom-related patent pool. In an exclusive interview with IAM, meanwhile, Qualcomm licensing VP John Han said that having secured around 90% of the licensing market for 5G the company’s focus is now on 6G, as well as IoT and video streaming opportunities.

Please note that inclusion of a piece in the list below does not signify agreement with what is stated in the linked article, just that we believe it is of interest and worth pointing out.

Market

Qualcomm's 5G licensing programme boasts over 90% penetration in global phones and the company’s focus is now shifting to 6G, says Technology Licensing VP John Ham. Qualcomm's John Han talks 5G renewals, future plans for 6G, IoT and multimedia licensing - IAM

Access Advance announced the extension of the deadline for its video distribution patent pool Founding Licensee scheme to 30^th September. Access Advance Extends Founding Licensee Incentives for Video Distribution Patent Pool Through September 30, 2025 - Access Advance

Legal

Huawei has become the latest holder of HEVC SEPs to file suit against Transsion at the UPC. Transsion’s UPC battles expand as Huawei files suit - IAM 🔒

Nokia is suing the Geely Group and three of its auto brands for patent infringement at the Mannheim local division of the UPC. Nokia's First Targets: Four Geely-Linked Auto Brands – Zeekr, Lynk & Co, Lotus, Smart

Policy & Opinion

The Indian government is drawing up plans to create a sovereign patent fund to build a “Standard Essential Patent pool for widely used telecom technologies”. India eyes forming telecom SEP pool with sovereign patent fund - IAM 🔒

Interim licences awarded by UK courts fail the useful purposes test, contain non-FRAND elements and are of no financial use to SEP holders. SEP/FRAND Hub 2024/2025 - IAM

Reported plans to charge US patent holders a new maintenance fee of between 1% and 5% of the value of their patents to help cover the US fiscal deficit would do far more harm than good. Taxing Patent Value Is a Patently Bad Idea | ITIF

Strategy & Analysis

The first detailed look at the financial cost of hold-out has found that it cost cellular SEP licensors up to $28 billion in 2021 alone. Sisvel | The $28 billion cost of hold-out

Analysis shows NPE complaints make up a small share of ITC patent investigations – as low as 10% of the total. NPEs file as few as 10% of ITC Section 337 complaints: agency counsel – ip fray