Advisory group looks at patents’ inclusion in standards
The licensing of standards-essential patents (SEPs) on reasonable and non-discriminatory (RAND) terms is a cornerstone of the standards-development process. The incorporation of SEPs on a RAND basis incentivizes the inclusion of cutting-edge patented technology in technical standards, while also ensuring that the holder of a SEP cannot abuse the dominant market position it gains from widespread adoption of a voluntary technical standard.
The IPR AHG has been active for over fifteen years, providing a forum for experts to exchange views on IPR matters and offer advice on the best approach to the patent-standard relationship.
In recent months, certain stakeholders as well as competition authorities have raised concerns regarding the increase in standards-related patent litigation as well as the possible use of SEPs to exclude competitors from a market. American and European regulators have in addition expressed concerns with the possible use of SEPs to pressure standards implementers into accepting higher royalties in bi-lateral licensing negotiations – also referred to as patent hold-ups – an act which undermines the aims of RAND to the disadvantage of standards implementers, hurting the consumers ultimately shouldering these higher costs.
Against this backdrop, ITU held a high-profile Patent Roundtable in October 2012 which assembled all the key private-sector and regulatory players to unravel the source of SEP-related litigation and to plot the course to an appropriate remedy.
Acting on the conclusions of this Roundtable, the IPR AHG is currently undertaking an accelerated series of meetings, targeting two specific questions:
the conditions under which companies that have made RAND commitments should or should not be allowed to seek injunctions; and the clarification of the meaning of the word "reasonable" in the RAND context.
The next meeting of the IPR AHG will take place at ITU headquarters in Geneva, 25-26 April 2013.A video message from the TSB Director to the IPR AHG can be viewed here.
New Agenda seeks to transform e-waste into opportunity
Representatives of Central American governments, private companies, universities and non-governmental organizations have agreed on a 20-point Agenda aiming to promote advances in the handling of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE or ”e-waste”) in the region. Key will be the application and identification of business models that leverage recycling opportunities and create new employment.
The new Agenda was agreed by the 86 participants in the ITU/UNEP Workshop for Capacity Building on Environmentally Responsible Management of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), organized in San Salvador, March 19-21 with the support of ITU Sector Member Telefónica.
The Agenda emphasizes increased collaboration between all parties, as well as the development of online learning programmes and workshops aimed at policy-makers. It calls on ITU and UNEP/PACE to assist Central America and the Caribbean in the development of regulations, legislation and international standards to mitigate e-waste’s potentially damaging effects on the environment and the health of local populations.
Rising participation in ITU work on protocols and test specifications
Meeting at ITU headquarters in Geneva, ITU-T Study Group 11 – Protocols and test specifications – received 72 participants from 22 countries, representing a 53 per cent increase over the participation numbers recorded for its previous meeting in June 2012.
The meeting saw substantial progress made in ITU’s collaboration with the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) and also advanced the group’s ongoing work on software-defined networking (SDN) and conformance and interoperability (C&I) testing. Read news on the meeting's C&I achievements here.
OpenGeoSMS is a standard maintained by OGC, originally developed by the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI). Study Group 11 continues to collaborate with OGC with a view to formalizing OpenGeoSMS as an international standard (ITU-T Recommendation). The standard uses Short Message Service (SMS) to exchange location-based information and is considered particularly important in providing relief to individuals affected by natural disasters.
In the interests of greater speed and flexibility in routing instructions, security and energy management of network equipment such as routers and switches, SDN proposes to decouple the control and data planes and allow for programmable interfaces to these planes; letting software do the job traditionally performed by the control plane.
ITU’s standardization work on SDN started in ITU-T Study Group 13 – Future networks including cloud computing, mobile and next-generation networks. SG 13 standardizes SDN’s functional requirements and architectures, and SG 11 thus works closely with SG 13 as it builds on this work by developing SDN’s signaling requirements and protocols.SG 11’s recent meeting in Geneva received contributions calling for new SDN work items, including:
· Scenarios and signalling requirements for software-defined BAN (SBAN)
· Framework of signalling for SDN
· Scenarios and signalling requirements of unified intelligent programmable interface for IPv6
The next meeting of SG 11 is scheduled to take place in Uganda, 6-15 November 2013, in collocation with the next meeting of SG 13 to strengthen the collaboration between these groups.
More information on ITU-T Study Group 11 is available here
More information on ITU-T Study Group 13 is available here
Smart Seoul: Case study of a smart city
ITU-T’s latest Technology Watch report covers Seoul’s emergence as a “smart city” applying information and communication technologies (ICTs) as basic infrastructure to improve service delivery, citizen happiness, and economic and environmental sustainability. Read or download the full report here.
The report will feed into the work of the recently established ITU-T Focus Group on Smart Sustainable Cities (news on the formation of the Focus Group here). With the new activities ITU aims to better facilitate collaboration among national regulators, mayor’s networks, citizens, standards bodies, equipment manufacturers, civil society and other smart-city stakeholders.
Authored by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, with support from ITU’s Telecommunication Standardization Bureau (TSB), “Seoul – a case study” offers an overview of the conceptual underpinnings of Seoul’s smart-technology agenda as well as descriptions of a number of the smart services available to citizens.
Seoul, the Republic of Korea’s capital city, is just one of many cities across the world to embrace ICTs as tools to boost economic and environmental efficiency, enhance government transparency and improve social welfare.
Rapid urbanization and high-density populations are powerful engines of innovation but also give rise to social, economic and environmental challenges as cities’ infrastructures develop comparatively slower than influxes of city inhabitants.
Cities today account for more than 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions and 60-80% of global energy consumption and it is estimated that, by 2050, 70% of the world’s population will be urban. Smarter, cleaner, more efficient cities are thus imperative to sustainable growth strategies and will also be crucial to boosting cities’ competitiveness and attractiveness as players in our global economy.
All published ITU-T Technology Watch reports are available free of charge here
ITU-T Study Group 11 jumpstarts C&I Programme
ITU has approved an action plan to drive its Conformance and Interoperability (C&I) Programme and has revamped the Joint Coordination Activity which marshals C&I work undertaken across ITU’s various expert groups.
Conformance with international standards is one of the core principles underlying the global interoperability of ICT networks and devices. The C&I Programme was initiated at the request of ITU’s membership in light of the challenges faced by developing countries in improving interoperability and battling counterfeit goods.
Meeting at ITU headquarters in Geneva, 25 February to 1 March 2013, SG11 approved a C&I action plan in line with WTSA-12’s revision of Resolution 76 on “Studies related to conformance and interoperability testing, assistance to developing countries, and a possible future ITU Mark programme”.
The SG11 meeting also saw substantial progress made in ITU’s collaboration with the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) and advanced the group’s ongoing work on software-defined networking (SDN). Read news on these achievements here.
The Joint Coordination Activity on C&I testing (JCA-CIT), which now falls under the leadership of SG11, will support the coordination of the ITU’s C&I activities while also acting as the first point of contact for organizations interested in contributing to this work. SG11 has revised JCA-CIT’s governing Terms of Reference and has appointed a new Convener in Mr. Martin Brand from Telekom Austria, an active SG11 member over the previous study period and appointed an SG11 Vice-chairman by WTSA-12. The next meeting of JCA-CIT will be held electronically, 25 April 2013, and detailed participation instructions will be provided on the JCA-CIT homepage.
Delivering on a central objective of the C&I program, SG11’s meeting reached first-stage approval (consent) of five new testing suites to become international standards (ITU-T Recommendations).
The meeting also hosted a presentation delivered by the Executive Secretary and Chairman of IECEE, the Worldwide System for Conformity Testing and Certification of Electrotechnical Equipment and Components. IECEE presented on its conformance assessment scheme and encouraged ITU to make full use of this platform in carrying out the C&I Programme.
In addition, SG11 produced an initial list of key technologies within its mandate which the group considers suitable for C&I testing. This will remain a living list and it forms input to the first pillar of the four-pillar C&I Programme which delineates C&I work into four separate but interdependent categories:
1) conformance assessment;
2) interoperability events;
3) human resource and capacity building; and
4) assistance in the establishment of test facilities in developing countries.
More information on ITU’s C&I Programme is available here
New ITU standards on cloud computing, ubiquitous networks and emergency telecoms
ITU members have agreed new standards (ITU-T Recommendations) on cloud computing, ‘smart’ ubiquitous networks and security requirements for the interconnection of emergency telecoms services.
The standards were agreed at a recent meeting of ITU-T Study Group 13 – Future Networks including cloud computing, mobile and next-generation networks. The meeting also agreed the publication of three new technical papers:
· Migration scenarios from legacy networks to NGN in developing countries
· How to increase QoS/QoE of IP-based Platform
· Mobility Management in ITU-T: Its Current development and Next Steps Heading Towards Future Networks
The SG13 meeting finalized the approval of Recommendation ITU-T Y.2705, Minimum Security Requirements for Interconnection of Emergency Telecommunications Service (ETS), and reached first-stage approval (consent) of the first ITU standards on cloud computing:
· Recommendation ITU-T Y.3501, Cloud computing framework and high-level requirements
· Recommendation ITU-T Y.3510, Cloud Computing Infrastructure Requirements
· Recommendation ITU-T Y.3520, Cloud computing framework for end to end resource management
Other noteworthy standards reaching first-stage approval include two new recommendations on smart ubiquitous networks, a central force in the evolution towards more human-centric ICTs:
· Recommendation ITU-T Y.3041, Smart Ubiquitous Networks – Overview
· Recommendation ITU-T Y.3042, Smart Ubiquitous Networks – Smart Traffic Control and Resource Management Functions
Following the adoption of a Resolution on Software Defined Networking (SDN) at last November’s World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA-12) in Dubai, much discussion was also dedicated to planning the course of ITU’s standardization work on this important work area. In addition, ITU-T Study Group 17 participants were invited to discuss the division of work between the two groups as it relates to standards for security in cloud computing.
