Breaking the 5G Curve by Looking Beyond the U.S. Patent System

Unified’s Shawn Ambwani and Sam Jaffna published an article in IPWatchdog.com analyzing the growth in 5G Self-Declared Standard Essential Patents (SD-SEPs) and the idea that strategic oppositions and invalidity proceedings filed outside the U.S. could prove useful to manufactures/equipment makers of 5G technology. There are 94,000 active grants and applications (25,700 families) 5G SD-SEPs as of September 2020.

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While successful validity challenges of a patent in foreign countries do not conclusively prove the invalidity of the U.S. counterpart, the successful arguments used in these challenges have been effective in the U.S. and used to argue lower portfolio values.

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“Manufacturers of equipment implementing 5G technologies should consider strategic oppositions and invalidity proceedings outside the United States against SEPs held by major licensees. These challenges cost a tenth or more less than typical U.S. challenges and could impact the licensing value of up to 50% of the self-declared families of the major SEP holders.”

Click HERE to read the entire article posted on IPWatchdog.com.