| README information about the Patent Statements Database |
About ITU-T Patent Statements Database
In order to facilitate both the standards making process and the application of ITU-T Recommendations, the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau (TSB) is making available the ITU-T Patent Statements database composed of information that was communicated to the TSB (formerly the CCITT) by administrations, private enterprises, etc. that participate in the standards making activities of the ITU-T Study Groups. The patents mentioned in the Statements are embodied fully or partially in an ITU-T Recommendation. The Statements may contain information on specific patents or may contain no such information, but rather give a general statement about an organization's compliance with ITU-T Patent Policy, for a particular Recommendation. (This patent policy statement can be found under paragraph III below)
This database is not certified to be either accurate or complete, but only reflects the information that has been communicated to the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau. As such, the database may be viewed as simply alerting users that they may wish to contact the organizations which have communicated Patent Statements to the TSB.
I Composition of the database
In each record of the database there are 10 categories:
- Recommendation Number: The number of the Recommendation to which the Patent Statement refers, ex: G.707
- Id. Number: The identification number assigned to the Patent Statement communicated to the TSB. If there were, for example, 88 Patent Statements communicated to the TSB referring to Recommendation H.262, then there would be identification numbers ranging from H262-01 to H262-88.
- Organization: The organization that holds the patent which could include administrations, universities, etc., and its contact address.
- Tel. No., Fax No. and e-mail address: The contact telephone number, fax number and e-mail address of the organization.
- URL: URL address of the organization.
- Licensing declaration and Remarks:
6.1 Licensing declaration submitted with the declaration form of the previous version July 2004
The declared patent policy of the organization in its communication to the TSB. Most often the patent statement in the database is given as "Pat. pol. 2.2", which means that the organization subscribes to subclause 2.2 of the Statement on ITU-T Patent Policy. Often the patent policy is given as "Pat.pol. 2.2 (under condition of reciprocity)". The word “reciprocity” means with respect to other parties that have a patent or patent claim required in the use or implementation of the relevant ITU-T Recommendations(s), the patent holder shall only be required to license to such parties if they are willing to license their patents under options 1 or 2 of the Patent Statement and Licensing Declaration.
6.2 Licensing declaration submitted with the declaration form of the version July 2004
The Patent Statement and Licensing Declaration form option 1 was modified to introduce new wordings;
- ‘and under other reasonable terms and conditions’
- ‘Negotiations are left to the parties concerned and are performed outside the ITU-T.’
- ‘Also mark here ___ if the Patent Holder reserves the right to license on reasonable terms and conditions (but not for free) to applicants who are only willing to license their patent claims, whose use would be required to implement the above ITU-T Recommendation, on reasonable terms and conditions (but not for free). ’
A definition on ‘Free’ was added to the declaration from:
Free: The word “free” does not mean that the Patent Holder is waiving all of its rights with respect to the essential patent. Rather, “free” refers to the issue of monetary compensation; i.e., that the Patent Holder will not seek any monetary compensation as part of the licensing arrangement (whether such compensation is called a royalty, a one-time licensing fee, etc.). However, while the Patent Holder in this situation is committing to not charging any monetary amount, the Patent Holder is still entitled to require that the implementer of the ITU-T Recommendation sign a license agreement that contains other reasonable terms and conditions such as those relating to governing law, field of use, reciprocity, warranties, etc.
And definition on ‘Reciprocity’ was modified and added to the declaration form:
Reciprocity: As used herein, the word “reciprocity” means that the Patent Holder shall only be required to license any prospective licensee if such prospective licensee will commit to license its essential patent(s) or essential patent claim(s) for implementation of the same ITU-T Recommendation for free or under reasonable terms and conditions.
6.3 From July 2002 onwards, a remark, in red characters, is added whenever a patent statement is received after approval of the Recommendations.
- Patent Title: The title of a patent, if given, in an organization's communication to the TSB.
- Patent Number: The number of the patent cited in the communication to the TSB. If the patent has not yet been granted but has been applied for, the number given will be followed by "(appl. no.)" to indicate it is an application number.
- Patent Country: The country in which the patent has been obtained. If the patent is held in several countries, only the major country (if that can be determined) is given here. Foreign Counterparts: The countries and their associated patent or application numbers only when they were mentioned in the Patent Licensing Declaration.
- Date Patent Statement Received: The date when the statement of Patent Licensing Declaration was received at the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau. If that date cannot be determined (which is the case for some old Statements), then the date printed on the Statement itself, or the CCITT document in which it is cited, is used.
II Correcting the database
If any organization finds that the information concerning their statement of Patent Licensing Declaration in this database is in error or not up-to-date, they should communicate their updating information to:
Director
Telecommunication Standardization Bureau
International Telecommunication Union
Place des Nations 1211
Geneva 20 Switzerland
Fax: +41 22 730 5853
email: tsbdir@itu.int
III Statement on ITU-T Patent Policy
The following is a "code of practice" regarding intellectual property rights (patents) covering, in varying degrees, the subject matters of ITU-T Recommendations. The rules of the "code of practice" are simple and straightforward. Recommendations are drawn up by telecommunications and not patent experts; thus, they may not necessarily be very familiar with the complex international legal situation of intellectual property rights such as patents, etc.
ITU-T Recommendations are non-binding international standards. Their objective is to ensure compatibility of international telecommunications on a worldwide basis. To meet this objective, which is in the common interests of all those participating in international telecommunications (network and service providers, suppliers and users) it must be ensured that Recommendations, their applications, use, etc. are accessible to everybody. It follows, therefore, that a commercial (monopolistic) abuse by a holder of a patent embodied fully or partly in a Recommendation must be excluded. To meet this requirement in general is the sole objective of the code of practice. The detailed arrangements arising from patents (licensing, royalties, etc.) are being left to the parties concerned, as these arrangements might differ from case to case.
This code of practice may be summarized as follows (it should be noted that ISO operates in a very similar way):
- The Telecommunication Standardization Bureau (TSB) is not in a position to give authoritative or comprehensive information about evidence, validity or scope of patents or similar rights, but it is desirable that the fullest available information should be disclosed. Therefore, any ITU-T member organization putting forward a standardization proposal should, from the outset, draw the attention of the Director of TSB to any known patent or to any known pending patent application, either their own or of other organizations, although the TSB is unable to verify the validity of any such information.
- If an ITU-T Recommendation is developed and such information as referred to in paragraph 1 has been disclosed, three different situations may arise:
2.1 The patent holder waives his rights; hence, the Recommendation is freely accessible to everybody, subject to no particular conditions, no royalties are due, etc.
2.2 The patent holder is not prepared to waive his rights but would be willing to negotiate licenses with other parties on a non-discriminatory basis on reasonable terms and conditions. Such negotiations are left to the parties concerned and are performed outside the ITU-T.
2.3 The patent holder is not willing to comply with the provisions of either paragraph 2.1 or paragraph 2.2; in such case, no Recommendation can be established.
- Whatever case applies (2.1, 2.2 or 2.3), the patent holder has to provide a written statement to be filed at the TSB using the ITU-T “Patent Statement and Licensing Declaration” form. This statement must not include additional provisions, conditions, or any other exclusion clauses in excess of what is provided for each case in the corresponding boxes of the Patent Statement and Licensing Declaration form.
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Formerly CCITT Recommendations. |
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