This chapter introduces the concept of standards-essential intellectual property (SEIP), including standards-essential patents (SEPs), standards-essential copyrights, and other applicable forms of IP. The chapter includes detailed consideration of SEPs – including a survey of scholarship of well-documented issues such as patent holdup, royalty stacking, component patenting and patent thickets – not neglecting also the availability of collective rights organizations, e.g. patent pools. Consideration is also given to applicable limiting doctrines in patent law such as defences for experimental use, as well as fundamental principles such as the requirement to publish. Detailed consideration is given to patent remedies, notably injunction and damages; compulsory licencing is also discussed. Likewise, copyright laws are considered carefully. Likewise, copyright laws are considered carefully. There is discussion of the particular situation of copyrights in relation to software and the structure of databases. There is also consideration of layout circuit and trade secret laws, as well as compulsory licensing.

This chapter provides a critical review of the literature relating to remedies for patent infringement in the context of complex products, with a focus on the underlying theoretical issues of holdup, holdout, and royalty stacking. Issues considered here include: the conceptually appropriate benchmark for a fair return to a patentee; the theory of holdup and mechanisms by which holdup can be mitigated; placing the holdup debate within the context of property rules vs. liability rules; forcing patentees to accept lower royalties though holdout; and a review of empirical evidence related to holdup and royalty stacking.