Law360 Quotes Professor Cotter on the EU's Draft Regulation on Standard-Essential Patents

A May 1, 2023 Law360 article titled Questions Abound On EU Plan For New Essential Patent Rules discusses a draft regulation the European Commission released last week concerning standard-essential patents (SEPs) that are subject to a commitment to license on fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory (FRAND) terms.  As proposed, the regulation which would require SEP owners to submit to a mandatory but nonbinding "FRAND determination" to be conducted under the auspice of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) before initiating patent infringement litigation before the courts of a member state or the Unified Patent Court (UPC).  The article quotes Professor Tom Cotter as stating that "there is certainly is a lot of discussion around the world about the need to come up with a better, more efficient system for determining FRAND royalties," but that he questions whether "this particular proposal is going to go forward as is because of the many objections that people have raised to it."