RIETI Policy Seminar

Standards and Intellectual Property: Strategies Japan should adopt in light of current global trends

Announcement

As social and economic importance of standards is growing dramatically due to advances in information and communications technology and spread of the Internet of Things, coordination of standards and intellectual property (patents) has become a matter of importance. This is because when standardization is advanced for diffusing technologies, the standards will inevitably include leading-edge patented inventions, and thus, tension occurs between standards that should be open to use and the patents belonging exclusively to the rights holder.

To date, standards developing organizations (SDOs) have worked to coordinate standards and patents by formulating intellectual property rights (IPR) policies and requesting owners of patents which are essential to standards to declare licensing patents on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms. However, in reality, in Japan and throughout the world, disputes break out between the owners of standard-essential patents and the businesses that implement standards. Coping with the issues of standards and intellectual property rights at the level of government, judiciary, and SDOs is being sought.

At the seminar, the experts will make presentations and discuss the issues, taking fundamental perspectives that both standards and intellectual property contribute to innovation, and consider what is necessary to realize a virtuous cycle in which intellectual property creates innovation and standards diffuse the fruits of such innovation. In Part I, researchers in the fields of economics and law will make presentations from the standpoints of empirical research and theories in terms of comparison of different approaches to solving disputes over standard essential patents in major countries. They will also discuss the current situations and analyses of licensing negotiations and calculation methods of FRAND royalties. In Part II, we will invite experts on Japanese and overseas companies that are proactively engaged in standardization activities and policy experts to discuss the directions for strategies that governments and companies should take.

Information

  • Time and Date: 13:30-17:30, Friday, December 8, 2017 (Registration starts at 13:00)
  • Venue: RIETI's seminar room (METI Annex 11th floor, 1121) 11th floor, Annex, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) 1-3-1, Kasumigaseki Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
  • Language(s): Japanese / English (with simultaneous interpretation)
  • Admission: Free
  • Host(s): Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI)
  • Seating Capacity: 80
  • Contact: RIETI Ms. Kobayashi ( )
    Tel: 03-3501-8398

Online Registration is now closed.
We are no longer accepting registrations as the number of registrants has reached the seating capacity.
Thank you.

Program

13:30-13:35 Opening Remarks

YANO Makoto (President and CRO, RIETI / Professor, Institute of Economic Research, Kyoto University)

13:35-14:00 Presentation 1: Standards and IP–From the viewpoint of economics–

Anne LAYNE-FARRAR (Vice President, Charles River Associates)

14:00-14:25 Presentation 2: Dynamic Effects of Patent Pools: Evidence from inter-generational competition in the optical disc industry

SHIMBO Tomoyuki (Associate Professor, Kanto Gakuin University)

14:25-14:50 Presentation 3: FRAND as Private Law and Public Law

Jorge L. CONTRERAS (Professor, University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law)

14:50-15:15 Presentation 4: Legal Issues Concerning the Enforcement of FRAND-encumbered SEPs: A View from Japan with a Comparative Perspective

SUZUKI Masabumi (Faculty Fellow, RIETI / Professor, Nagoya University Graduate School of Law)

15:15-15:35 Break

15:35-17:30 Panel Discussion

Panelists (in alphabetical order)

FUKUOKA Noriko (Senior Manager of Licensing Department, Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.)

Dina KALLAY (Head of Antitrust (IPR, Americas & Asia-Pacific), Ericsson)

MIMURA Tetsuya (Senior Manager of Strategic Licensing Group, Intellectual Property Department, NTT DOCOMO, INC.)

NAGANO Juichi (Professor, Nagoya University / Former Director - International Standards Strategy, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry)

Moderator

NAGAOKA Sadao (Faculty Fellow, RIETI / Professor, Tokyo Keizai University)

*Agenda is subject to change