Qualcomm has released a statement regarding the IEEE’s new policy with respect to patents and standards, which I wrote about Monday. Here is Qualcomm’s statement:
“We are disappointed by the IEEE’s unprecedented decision to radically overhaul its policy for patents covering technologies at the core of Wi-Fi and other standards without any evidence of problems with the current policy and through a one-sided, closed-door process. More than 15 major technology companies whose engineers contribute to the IEEE standards objected to the policy changes, but they were refused a voice in development of the new rules.
“Through every step of this process, IEEE members were denied an open debate of the merits, potential consequences and even basic explanations of these policy changes and why they were developed in the first place. The European Commission has expressed concerns about the changes, and a host of technological contributors to IEEE standards have warned that the changes would negatively affect their willingness to contribute technology to IEEE standards and make them wary about participating in the IEEE standards-development process. As a result, the legal and engineering landscape of IEEE standards development has become significantly cloudier.
“We believe engineers from Qualcomm have been the largest technology contributor to IEEE’s 802.11ac standard and 802.11ah draft standard for Wi-Fi. Under the new rules, Qualcomm will reconsider how it participates in IEEE standards development: Qualcomm will not make licensing commitments under the new policy; when Qualcomm has a choice of where to participate in standardization activity, Qualcomm will favor standard-setting organizations with neutral policies for intellectual property rights over the IEEE; and for future Qualcomm contributions to IEEE standards, Qualcomm will make alternative licensing commitments that will be decided on a case-by-case basis. Qualcomm’s engineers remain committed to working closely with their peers across the IEEE standards process in a fair, open, and consensus-based manner.
“The extraordinary global success and adoption of each new generation of Wi-Fi technology demonstrated how well the current IEEE standards policy for patents has worked, balancing encouragement for invention companies to invest in the expensive R&D that makes possible technological advancement with guarantees for fair access to the standards. The incredible growth of industries that use IEEE standards and innumerable benefits for consumers showed how well this balance worked. Once the new rules come into effect at the IEEE, the organization will have lost that balance.
“Despite how these changes unfolded at the IEEE, we are confident that at other major standard-setting organizations where Qualcomm participates, an open, consensus-based process for setting rules for intellectual property rights will continue to be the norm.”