A holder of standard-essential patents often agrees to license those patents on terms that are “fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory” (the “FRAND contract”). The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom recently held, in Unwired Planet v. Huawei, a court may assess compliance with the FRAND contract by analyzing the “FRANDness” of a portfolio-wide license—that is, a license to use the technology anywhere in the world. The Unwired Planet rule sensibly accommodates the global nature of modern standards licensing. McKool Smith principals Nicholas Mathews, and associate Patrick Pijls recently published “US Courts Should Adjudicate FRAND Rates on a Global Basis” in Law360 to explain why federal courts can and should apply the Unwired Planet rule on this side of the pond. You can read the article here.
