| I'm not (in this argument) arguing against the idea that a world without patents wouldn't be better. It might but that is a whole other discussion. In this world patents exist and FRAND commitments enable significant amounts of commerce and standardisation to proceed. FRAND is not irrelevant, most companies meet their commitment and massive numbers (of possibly dubious) patents can be licensed quite cheaply in many areas. Samsung and Motorola are trying abuse their Standards Essential Patents in several areas and are risking this whole system (at least in Samsung's case possibly at great risk to themselves in the medium term). You say FRAND is irrelevant because some companies aren't following it but I think they form the minority and it is yet to be seen if they get away with it. Rambus didn't (although it took years) and Motorola is in another suit with Microsoft which may yet enforce some FRAND rules. Plus anti-trust authorities in the US (I think) and Europe have at least been taking an interest in this area although no actual proceedings have been brought they could still be. If I want to build a device to connect to the mobile phone network I need to follow the standards. If I want to build a device to connect to connect to wifi I need to follow the standards. If I want to process video that is available from just about anywhere I need to follow the standards. If I want to design a new UI I can choose to develop something new (and patent it if I want), use something published but non patented (hard to find), use something old (>20 years), take a license to something patented or take my chances getting sued. Only the last two options are open when developing to a standard. At the moment if a single company (without a monopoly position) develops a new "standard" they can license it how they want because they are not breaking competition law and won't have entered any commitments. That doesn't make it OK for competitors to act together to do this. |