EU: Apple, Volkswagen, BMW warn EU over patent fees guidelines

Apple, Volkswagen, BMW and Daimler have warned EU regulators that adopting patent fee guidelines which favor Qualcomm and Ericsson could hurt consumers and hinder innovation.

The companies’ lobbying group, the Fair Standards Alliance (FSA), voiced their concerns in a letter dated October 16 to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, Industry Commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska and their colleagues.

The move comes as the EU ponders whether a fridge -maker should pay a different rate for crucial patents than a carmaker, or whether a flat, fixed rate would be fairer, with trillions of dollars in sales at stake.

Sources say the latest Commission draft favors the patent fee model used by world’s top smartphone chip designers Qualcomm and Ericsson, which predominates in the tech industry and is based on how much value a technology adds to a product. It is opposed by Apple, Google and others in Silicon Valley, which favor fixed fees.

Full Content: Patently Apple

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