A patent that protects technology which is essential to implementing a standard is known as a standard essential patent (SEP). The number of declared SEPs doubled on average every five years between the early 1990s to 2014. As of 2020, around 95,000 patents have been declared essential for the 5G standard.
The UK IPO has been conducting a call for views to investigate whether the ecosystem around SEPs is functioning efficiently and effectively and strikes the right balance for all entities involved, in order to decide whether government intervention is required. Read more