FRAND IN JAPAN--A March 23rd client alert from Louise Stoupe and Chihiro Tomioka of Morrison & Foerster reports on recent revisions to guidelines published by the Japan Fair Trade Commission whereby, under the Japanese Antimonopoly Act (“AMA”), holders of a standard essential patent (“SEP”) with FRAND (“fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory”) obligations-- “risk violating fair trade practices if they refuse to license their patents to a willing licensee or bring an injunction against an alleged infringer. This will make it more difficult for holders of an SEP with FRAND obligations to enforce their patent rights and could also lead to disputes over what constitutes a willing licensee.” The client alert points out that the issue of whether a violation of a FRAND obligation was not directly dealt with in the original 2007 guidelines for the AMA. This has resulted in a number of legal disputes, most notably a cease and desist…
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