Re: [PP-DIALOG] Application of per se rule to ex ante joint conduct
At 10:54 AM 3/18/2006 , Lee, Michelle [BRAM:0314:EXCH] wrote:
It
would be nice for all of us to have cost certainty from suppliers in
planning, but the reality is standards process is not the place to
provide it and advanced confidential pricing to the public (including
competitors in the process) is not a realistic or reasonable expectaton,
particularly outside of consumer product markets. I also hope these
proposals are not expecting IEEE process or standards to interfere with
functioning open and competitive innovation markets, or economic
expectations that users negotiate a license to gain access to use
patented technologies to practice the standard.
Michelle-
The fact remains that there are cases where a patent holder wishes to
make IP available on quite reasonable and non secret terms. Most of the
patents on Ethernet from a variety of vendors from 1980 until the IEEE
precluded putting T&Cs in assurance letters were for a one time fee
for a fully paid up license. As I recall, the fees ranged from $1000 to
$50,000.
It is often very hard to do the market development for an invention.
Getting it adopted into a standard can give it a real boost. You may be
willing to give one essential patent away for cheap in order to peddle
lots of equipment that embraces non-essential patents
Geoff