A year in review: transparency and the EU Communication on SEPs

In November 2017, the European Commission issued a long-awaited Communication titled “Setting out the EU Approach to Standard Essential Patents (SEPs)”. Overall, the Communication framed licensing of SEPs in a careful manner, stressing its aim of “incentivising the development and inclusion of top technologies in standards, by preserving fair and adequate return for these contributions, and ensuring smooth and wide dissemination of standardised technologies based on fair access conditions”.