IP Europe commends the European Parliament for once again supporting a strong intellectual property framework which enables European companies to secure fair returns for their technology through licensing. This, in turn, will enable these companies to continue developing open technology standards and to participate in the development of key technologies at global level.

5G is a game-changer, and the universe of connected products and services that rely on this open standard cellular technology is rapidly expanding into new sectors and becoming essential to more vertical industry segments. Because of this trend, we particularly welcome the European Parliament’s recognition of wilful infringement of IPR as a deliberate commercial tactic by bad faith actors.

For the past two decades, smartphone makers, and more recently car makers, have benefited from the use of patented cellular technologies (3G, 4G, 5G). With future applications (many of which have yet to be deployed), new entrants –and especially SMEs– will be able to integrate standardized wireless technology into their products and services without having to develop it themselves. 

IP Europe members remain committed to engaging in constructive and fact-based stakeholder dialogues on all matters related to IPR and standard essential patents (SEPs). We stand ready to work with EU policy-makers, and MEPs in particular, to ensure there is adequate clarity about the importance of the open standards development process.