The tensions between Standard Essential Patents and FOSS

A Standard Essential Patent (SEP) is a patent granted for technological invention which is essential for implementation and working of a standard. SEPs are licensed by patent owners on FRAND/ RAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory) terms to anyone who needs to implement the standard. However, standardisation process and FOSS development may not always be compatible given the patent owner's interest in seeking royalties on the licenses. This talk presents some thoughts on the interaction between FOSS and SEPs and FOSS implementations. 

As a part of my work at the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), I conducted the first ever landscape of mobile phone patents in India in 2015. https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/vjtl/vol50/iss1/1/ At the CIS, I also studied big-ticket mobile phone SEP litigation in India:  https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3120364 The talk will touch upon some of the relevant findings from this work. 

Prior knowledge of patents is not required among the audience but is desirable. I am not a lawyer. So, none of the contents of the talk can be taken as legal advice.