Patents
Patents and Standards
In many sectors of economic activity, companies make significant investments of financial and human resources in the development of new technologies and products.
Consequently, often the best available technology that experts would like to include in a technical standard is protected by one or more patents.
This is particularly true in certain areas where interoperable and complex technologies lead standard developers to take into consideration new and upcoming technologies, which are usually protected by patents.
In order to preserve the universal approach of standards, while also respecting the rights of the patent holders, CEN and CENELEC have developed an intellectual property rights (IPR) policy under the provision of the CEN-CENELEC Guide 8 “Standardisation and intellectual property rights (IPR)”.
The purpose of the CEN-CENELEC Guide 8, which is in line with the relevant guides of ISO and IEC, is to provide practical guidance to the participants in technical bodies on how to deal with patent-related matters.
In brief, the CEN and CENELEC Patent Policy encourages the early disclosure and identification of patents that may relate to standards under development. In doing so, we aim to encourage greater efficiency in standards development while avoiding possible and potential patent-related problems.
The CEN and CENELEC Patent Policy provides for the incorporation of patented technology into new standards, on condition that the patent holder is ready to allow this either without financial compensation or at Fair, Reasonable and non-Discriminatory (FRAND) conditions to other standard users.
It should be noted that CEN and CENELEC are not involved in evaluating the relevance or essentiality of patents with regard to standards under development, interfering with licensing negotiations, or engaging in settling disputes on patents. These issues are left to the parties concerned.
In order to facilitate both the standards-making process and the application of deliverables, CEN and CENELEC make available to the public a shared Patent Information list composed of information that was communicated to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre (CCMC) by means of Declaration Forms.
Please note that the Patent Information list is not certified to be either accurate or complete, but only reflects the information that has been communicated to CCMC.
The Patent Information list provides a mechanism for patent holders to inform standard users about any patents that are relevant to a particular standard. In such cases, standard users are advised to contact the patent holders in order to agree any patent licenses that may be necessary.
Access CEN and CENELEC patent declaration list (xls format)
An important proportion of CEN and CENELEC deliverables are transpositions of ISO and IEC deliverables through the Vienna and Frankfurt Agreement processes. For these deliverables, please consult:
- the list of patents declarations received by ISO
- the list of patent declarations received by IEC.
This information is accessible in the CEN-CLC Guide 8 “Standardisation and intellectual property rights (IPR)” (pdf format) and in the Declaration Form “Statement and Licensing Declaration for CEN and CENELEC Deliverable” (word format) .
Any person, company or organization that holds one or more patents (either granted or pending), the use of which may be needed to implement a standard, is strongly encouraged to declare their patent(s) using the CEN-CENELEC Declaration Form “Statement and Licensing Declaration for CEN and CENELEC Deliverable”.
The Declaration Form can also be found in Annex 2 of Guide 8 “Standardisation and intellectual property rights (IPR)” (pdf format)
Completed Declaration Forms must be sent to the attention of the Technical Directors of CEN and/or CENELEC.
By completing and submitting the Declaration Form, patent holders can declare their willingness (or unwillingness) to license the Patents they hold, and specify the conditions under which they are ready to license the use of their patented technologies.
For further information, the CEN-CENELEC Guide 8 also describes the requirements and procedure that has to be followed for the declaration of patents and on the general conditions for licensing patents, which are based on Fair, Reasonable and non-Discriminatory (FRAND) conditions.
The procedure of patent declaration under Guide 8 is largely based on the policy developed at international level by ISO, IEC and ITU.