Standard essential patents: The role of standard setting organizations

During the last years standard essential patents (SEPs) have been subject to intensive litigation worldwide. Apart from their significant economic harm, patent wars, especially in the information and telecommunication sector, have a negative impact on innovation. As key players in the standard setting context, standard setting organizations (SSOs) can contribute considerably to solve SEP-related problems. The Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition explores in the framework of an interdisciplinary project how the legal framework for a self-regulation by SSOs should be designed.