{"id":14237,"date":"2025-02-03T11:42:57","date_gmt":"2025-02-03T11:42:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pruefer.eu\/?p=14237"},"modified":"2025-02-03T12:35:50","modified_gmt":"2025-02-03T12:35:50","slug":"lngs-vs-seps-german-federal-cartel-office-says-yes-to-negotiating-communities-an-opportunity-for-medium-sized-companies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pruefer.eu\/en\/2025\/02\/03\/lngs-vs-seps-german-federal-cartel-office-says-yes-to-negotiating-communities-an-opportunity-for-medium-sized-companies\/","title":{"rendered":"LNGs vs. SEPs \u2013 German Federal Cartel Office says yes to negotiating communities \u2013 an opportunity for medium-sized companies?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n
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Standard essential patents, or SEPs<\/strong> for short, are essential for the implementation of certain technology standards in products such as smartphones and vehicles. SEP holders are obliged to grant licenses on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (so-called \u201cFRAND\u201d<\/strong>) terms. It is therefore not surprising that for years there have been frequent legal disputes regarding the licensing obligation and, in particular, the conditions, i.e. the amount of the license fees. As a result, a middle ground has been sought for years to find an amicable and satisfying solution for both sides, i.e. licensor and licensee.<\/p>\n

As early as 2022, there was a proposal to form so-called LNGs,<\/strong> Licensing Negotiating Groups, which can be seen as a kind of cooperative purchasing group for licenses from SEPs, in order to make license negotiations more efficient by reducing the number of necessary negotiations and thus lowering transaction costs.<\/p>\n

After the European Commission had in principle endorsed the proposal of these LNGs as a possible approach and issued corresponding guidelines for them, the German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) has now officially accepted the establishment of the ‘Automotive Licensing Negotiation Group’ (ALNG). The ALNG is a cooperation initiative between BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Thyssenkrupp and VW. The aim is to enable the participating companies to jointly negotiate licenses for standard-essential patents (SEP) required for the implementation of technologies such as 4G or 5G in vehicles.<\/p>\n

The FCO came to this conclusion after examining the proposal in accordance with \u00a7\u00a7 1, 2 GWB in conjunction with \u00a7 32c(2) GWB and Article 101 TFEU. Andreas Mundt, the President of the FCO, emphasized that the cooperation is breaking new ground in terms of antitrust law and that the toleration of the ALNG is subject to the following conditions (see FCO press release dated June 10, 2024):<\/p>\n