October 4, 2022 – Washington, DC – Today, Save Our Standards issued the following statement regarding action taken by the IEEE Standards Association Board of Governors (IEEE SA BOG) to update the Patent Policy for IEEE standards development, which will go into effect January 1, 2023.
“Save Our Standards is deeply concerned about the changes recently approved by the Board of Governors of the IEEE Standards Association as it injects significant uncertainty into an issue that was previously unambiguous. The changes create legal uncertainty for many innovators looking to implement IEEE technical standards. This lack of clarity introduces new risks for innovators trying to follow the rules of the road when developing new products that implement technical standards leading to less time innovating and more time in court.
“Just last year, over 100 stakeholders from numerous industrial sectors and around the world overwhelmingly expressed their support for IEEE’s Patent Policy, urging the IEEE to not change its 2015 patent policy which balanced concerns for both SEP holders and licensees. By almost any measure, standardization work at IEEE has thrived under the 2015 patent policy. This latest update, the result of deliberations over language that were largely closed to input from impacted users of IEEE standards, may unfortunately just lead to more standard-essential patent abuse to the detriment of consumers, industry and the public interest at large. These are important issues that have a noticeable impact on innovation and the economy and we will continue to work to advance transparent and balanced patent policies.”
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About Save Our Standards
Save Our Standards is a broad-based coalition of innovators, small businesses, associations, academics, and consumer groups dedicated to reinforcing the FRAND licensing commitment and its important role in technical standards to enable competition and innovation that directly benefits consumers. We work to educate decision-makers and stakeholders on policies that allow all innovators to thrive through pro-competitive practices and the reinforcement of fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory licensing terms for standard-essential patents. To learn more, visit www.saveourstandards.com.
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Ashley Durkin-Rixey
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