Apple called on EU to set FRAND licensing standards

SERIAL PATENTS LITIGATOR Apple has written a letter to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute asking it to set guidelines for how patents that cover industry standards should be licensed.

According to Mac Observer, Apple's legal team claimed that the lack of licensing standards has led to lawsuits that otherwise wouldn't have happened.

The cappuccino company's intellectual property chief, Bruce Watrous said, "It is apparent that our industry suffers from a lack of consistent adherence to FRAND principles in the cellular standards arena."

Apple's letter went on to propose a solution based on the principles of appropriate royalty rate, common royalty base, and no injunction.

The letter was written in November of last year but has only been discovered because it has emerged that Motorola Mobility wants to take 2.25 per cent of Apple's Iphone sales revenue in patent licensing royalties.

Apple argued that it is already covered by licensing fees Qualcomm pays for the chips used in its Iphone devices. The fruit themed firm wants to get others in court to see if 2.25 per cent is a reasonable royalty rate before it shells out $1bn.

Apple suggested that licensing fees should be paid based on the value of the components the patents cover, rather than the price of the finished product as Motorola has suggested.

Watrous said in Apple's letter, "This common base, as between two negotiating parties, should be no higher than the industry average sales price for a basic communications device that is capable of both voice and data communications."

Apple's markups and average selling prices on Iphones are notoriously far higher than the industry averages. µ