How to draft a licence agreement that is fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory: a ten-point plan

Abstract

Mark Anderson is managing partner at Anderson Law LLP, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom, and a visiting professor at the Institute of Brand and Innovation Law of University College London. The English High Court case of Unwired Planet International Ltd v Huawei Technologies Co Ltd & Anor is of great interest to IP lawyers who advise on standards-essential patents (SEPs), on associated questions of competition law, and on licensing patents on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms. The case is also of interest internationally, partly because there have been relatively few cases anywhere in the world, to date, that provided judicial guidance on legal issues relating to SEPs and FRAND and because this is the first time that an English court has determined a FRAND royalty rate. This article focuses narrowly on the FRAND aspects of the Unwired Planet case, and on what the case teaches us about how to draft a patent licence agreement that is FRAND. But the discussion is broadened to reflect not only on the licensing of SEPs but also of other types of licence where there is an obligation to negotiate fair and reasonable licence terms, with particular reference to the terms of grant of the European Commission for Horizon 2020 research projects. This focus results in the author omitting discussion of some points that would be of interest to the lawyer who is running litigation against a user of an SEP (perhaps in parallel with negotiating a FRAND licence with that infringer), or who may be advising on compliance with competition laws in the context of such litigation and negotiations.