The Role of FRAND License in Facilitating Technical Standards-setting Process

Facing proprietary rights of individuals, standard-setting organizations have developed strategies based on intellectual property rights. One of the most important strategies is the commitment to grant fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) licenses. This commitment plays an important role in advancing the benefits of standardization, including interoperability, development of innovation, promotion of competition and enhancement of consumer welfare. The present study is going to demonstrate the importance of technical standards and the role of standard setting organizations in their creation and development and analyze the key role of FRAND license in determination and commercialization of standard essential patents. This paper shows that there is serious challenge between the process of choosing a standard and the exclusive rights arising from a technology, therefore, it is crucial that standard setting organizations and technology holder reach an agreement to grant specific licenses to implementers of technical standards. The aspects of the subject are not known in Iranian law and there are no special provisions in this regard. Considering and analyzing of the existing approaches and legal procedures can be beneficial to link up these patents with the standard setting process.