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Menno Treffers

has lead standards development organizations and created patent license programs. He is chairman of the Wireless Power Consortium, an industry group that developed the Qi standard for wireless charging of mobile phones. As founder of Treffers Alliance Management, he helps clients predict the effect of intellectual property license terms on distribution channels and on the competition between products. Prior to founding Treffers Alliance Management, Menno worked with Koninklijke Philips and with One-Red LLC, where he was responsible for new business development and the DVD video disc patent license program. At Koninklijke Philips he developed the VEEZA patent license program for CD-R discs and contributed to the creation of various industry standards, such as Super Audio CD, Blu-ray Disc, and the Zhaga standards for LED light engines. Menno Treffers has a PhD in physics from Leiden University in The Netherlands.

Recent Articles by Menno Treffers

Emotions in the debate on royalty payments for the use of standards

The debate on royalty payments for standard essential patents has a surprisingly emotional, sometimes even hostile, undertone. Companies selling standards-based products have an obvious commercial interest in lower royalty rates, but for some participants in the debate the hostility goes deeper. Some people find the idea of having to pay royalties for the use of any standard objectionable and unreasonable.

The Royalty Rate for a Subset of Standard Essential Patents – What Is Reasonable?

How can a patent that is deemed essential for a standard not be infringed in a product that implements that standard? One possible explanation could be that the claim of essentiality is incorrect. That’s why it is important to document essentiality with a claim chart and ask an independent expert to verify that infringement of the patent claim is prescribed by the standard. But an independent verification is still no guarantee that court will agree that such a patent is really infringed by a product. Another explanation is that the patent is essential for an option in the standard and that the product does not implement this particular option. Most technical specifications of interface standards have options, describing alternative methods to implement the standard. Manufacturers can choose one of the options and will not infringe patents that are essential for implementing another option.