Just Published: Factsheet on Standard-Essential Patents in India

Patents provide incentives for research and development, and facilitate knowledge transfers. Standards ensure the rapid diffusion of technologies and the interoperability between products. Patents that protect technology essential to a standard are known as standard-essential patents (SEPs). The intellectual property (IP) rights policy of the European Telecommunication Standards Institute (ETSI) defines essentiality as follows: "A patent is described as 'essential' when it is not possible on technical grounds to make or operate equipment or methods that comply with a standard without infringing a Standard Essential Patent (SEP), i.e., without using technologies covered by one or more patents." 

The India IP SME Helpdesk team has published a brand-new factsheet focusing on the SEP framework in India. This factsheet also highlights the challenges in the domain of SEPs, as well as other IP-related challenges.