The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) has published two model submission agreements for referring disputes concerning the adjudication of fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms in standards-essential patent licences to WIPO arbitration and expedited arbitration. The agreements build on the standard WIPO arbitration rules and include a set of optional FRAND-specific features. WIPO states that the agreements seek to ensure a cost- and time-effective FRAND adjudication and that they have been developed following consultations with leading patent law, standardisation and arbitration experts from a number of jurisdictions. It adds that it also took into account comments made by the European Telecommunication Standards Institute. WIPO has also published two multi-tier model submission agreements which incorporate mediation prior to the arbitration procedure. Mediation and arbitration options have not been popular with standards setting organisations and it remains debatable whether the publication of the agreements will lead to a change in practice.

Source: WIPO news, 10 December 2013.