Patent Pool Policies of Countries in the World

The intellectual property policy of patent pool is generally formulated by the members of patent pool through consultation, but it is also influenced and restricted by many factors. In addition to meeting the requirements of anti-monopoly law, it is also subject to the relevant policies of standardization organizations, and even directly formulated by standardization organizations. The intellectual property policy of patent pool mainly includes the basic principles of intellectual property licensing, licensing fee standards and licensing methods. The contents of its intellectual property license mainly involve patents, and some also include trademarks (such as marks used to prove trademarks) and copyright objects (such as technical manuals). 1) patent licensing principle. In the patent pool, the principle of equality is usually followed. Regardless of the number of patents, all members of the patent pool have equal status, and every necessary patent is treated equally regardless of its function. This is because any patent in the patent pool is a necessary patent in technical realization. Members generally cross-license each other, and the foreign license income is mainly distributed in proportion to the number of patents owned by each member. The foreign patent licensing of patent pool generally follows the principle of "FRAND (fairness, reasonableness and non-discrimination)". That is, "the principle of fairness, reasonableness and non-discrimination", which is also the principle requirement of many standardization organizations and anti-monopoly institutions. The principle of fairness requires that the patent pool shall not refuse the license without reason and restrict the entry of new manufacturers; The principle of rationality requires that the licensing terms, especially the patent licensing rate, should be reasonable; The principle of non-discrimination requires that the patent pool should treat any licensee equally, and should not favor one over the other or refuse to license because of its country and scale. For example, standardization organizations such as 3GPP, ETSI and CWTS stipulate the FRAND licensing principle in their intellectual property laws and regulations. 2) Patent license fee standard. Generally, a unified charging standard is applied to the external licensing of patent pools, which is also the embodiment of the principle of non-discrimination. In order to determine a reasonable patent fee standard and the distribution ratio among patent pool members, the patent pool needs to determine a set of calculation methods for the collection and distribution of patent license fees. These methods generally include cost method, market method and income method. In practice, the patent licensing rate usually does not exceed 5% of the net selling price of patented products. Today, with the increasing strength of standardization organizations, the licensing fees of intellectual property rights of patent pools are often restricted by standardization organizations in advance. For example, 3G standardization organization "3rd generation partnership project" 3GPP tries to play a coordinating role between patentees and 3G manufacturers, not only organizing the necessary patent evaluation, but also formulating the calculation method of patent fees and defining the highest patent rate. 3) Intellectual property management institutions. Patent pools usually implement one-stop packaging licensing, and specialized intellectual property management agencies are responsible for related affairs. The management organization not only represents the patent pool to unify external licensing, but also handles patent dispute negotiation and litigation affairs. There are generally two ways to set up a management organization: one is to set up an independent entity responsible for intellectual property management by the patent pool, and the members of the patent pool first sign a patent authorization agreement with the independent entity, and then the independent entity is responsible for intellectual property licensing. For example, MPEG-LA set up by MPEG-2 patent pool and DVD 6C-LA set up by DVD 6c patent pool are such independent entities, both in the form of limited liability companies; The other is that the patent pool does not set up an independent organization, but entrusts some of its members to be responsible for intellectual property management on behalf of the patent pool, and DVD 3C is adopted. The patent pool entrusts one of its members, Philips, to be responsible for intellectual property licensing.