The Importance of a Fair and Reasonable Aggregate Royalty in SEP Licensing

Brussels, 7 April 2026 – The landscape of Standard Essential Patent (SEP) licensing is complex, with tens of thousands of patents held by hundreds of owners create opaque and often excessive cumulative royalty burdens that threaten consumer affordability and stifle innovation. While patent owners commit to FRAND terms to ensure widespread standard adoption, the lack of clear data on fair aggregate royalties generates significant uncertainty that discourages investment, particularly among small and medium-sized enterprises. To address these challenges, establishing predictable frameworks and transparent procedures for determining fair aggregate royalties is essential. Such initiatives would not only resolve negotiation impasses and guide judicial decisions but also foster a stable environment that encourages the broad adoption of critical emerging technologies.

In this paper we address the benefits of an aggregate rate mechanism, the types of information and evidence that could be contributed to such as process, and the foundational principles for such a process should proceed.