Yet standards essential patents must be licensed on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory grounds (FRAND).
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The companies may never become true friends, but FRAND is a good place to start.
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For this, they agree on what is called a Fair, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory, or FRAND, license agreement.
These do indeed have to be licensed to anyone who asks, on fair and reasonable terms (FRAND to us Europeans, RAND to you Americans).
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These do not have to be licensed on FRAND (or RAND) terms: they can try and charge as much as they like for them.
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Holders of SEPs are obliged to licence the patent's use to competitors in return for a fee on so-called fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (Frand) terms.
Precisely because the licence has to be on FRAND terms: non-discriminatory.
The talks are centring on what are known as fair, resasonable and non-discriminatory-type patents (FRAND) for innovations that are recognised as being critical to an industry standard.
The question is, is Samsung trying to charge a fair price for them (FRAND terms) or has Apple managed to license them through a tie up elsewhere?
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And part of having your patent incorporated into a standard is that you must licence them on a FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory) terms to anyone who asks.
Whether FRAND-encumbered patent holders should be able to seek injunctions is a critically important policy issue, and as a matter of policy a prohibition may make perfect sense.
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But because FRAND is in the eye of the beholder, an owner of an SEP may still demand more than others think is fair for a licence, and spark hostilities.
By law, any patents that are deemed to be necessary to make a standards compliant product must be licensed by the patent owner at fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms.
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"Micromax is committed to negotiating a FRAND license with Ericsson as Ericsson has undertaken to providing a Fair Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory (FRAND) license to Micromax, " the Indian company said in a statement.
While the firm is required to offer industry-essential patents at terms that are "fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory" or Frand for short, analysts said it was difficult to determine what a reasonable royalty was.
The Delhi High Court, in its order Monday, asked Ericsson and Micromax to negotiate a FRAND pact in the next one month, according to a copy of the order posted on the court's website.
Microsoft's lawsuit states that Google had requested an excessive amount of money for its Frand-type patents - rights that were supposed to be offered on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms since Motorola had acknowledged their critical status.
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