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Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Ms. Viviane Reding on 'Patent Ambushes'.

Ms. Viviane Reding, Member of the European Commission responsible for Information Society and Media,

speaking on a Conference of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU): 'Telecom World 2006', Hong Kong, China, December 04, 2006:

"[...] But governments do have a role to play. Most important, we have to provide certainty where we can. We have a duty to eliminate uncertainty by insisting that standards setting procedures are open, streamlined and independent. We have a duty also to make sure that the standards that are adopted are open and interoperable.

Governments can also help the process of standard setting by working with standards agencies to adapt legal systems to combat problems such as 'patent ambushes'. Standards should also offer legal certainty as to the IPR rights that are embedded in standards to make sure that they are fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory.

Governments also have a duty to reduce unnecessary uncertainty and delays in standard setting procedures. We should certainly all condemn the abuse of standards as a non-tariff barrier to market access. If we can achieve this, we will have taken off an important brake on development. [...]"

Apparently Ms. Reding hs been silent about how to adapt legal systems to combat problems such as 'patent ambushes'. Maybe that there are even diverging opinions within the EU Commission on that subject, effectively discouraging her from going into any details.

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