This April, ACT | The App Association spent 10 days in India meeting with policymakers, regulators, and stakeholders to make the case for a fair, pro-innovation national stance on standard-essential patent (SEP) licensing. For small tech companies and independent app developers, SEP policy can feel distant, but it has real-world impacts. SEPs are patents that cover technologies deemed essential to a standard (like 5G or Wi-Fi) and must be licensed by innovators building new technologies that utilize those standards. Some SEP holders choose to act anticompetitively and demand sky-high fees or block access, putting startups and small firms at a huge disadvantage.

Here’s what we took away from the SEP Symposium, meetings with Indian regulators, and a licensee-focused listening session, and why it matters for small tech companies.

The Courts

We started our time in New Delhi by participating in a SEP Symposium hosted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), which provided valuable insight into how Indian courts and policymakers are approaching SEP licensing issues. While there was broad acknowledgment that SEP licensing extends beyond telecom standards (e.g., 2G, 3G, 4G), and that greater transparency and the role of standard-setting organizations are critical, current government actions have yet to fully reflect this understanding. Judges representing the Delhi High Court’s IP Division and the India Supreme Court offered illuminating perspectives.

For example, Justice Amit Bansal acknowledged that the value of a SEP should not be based on components of a device that it does not function. However, he signaled openness to using broader royalty bases, such as the value of an end product, when the SEP in question forms the core functionality of the device. The idea that a SEP holder could extract additional value from components of a device that it does not support undermines the intent of open standards and limits participation by Indian end product manufacturers in the standard-setting process.

We also heard from Justice Pratibha Singh, who believed that examining a potential breach of the fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) commitment is straightforward and that the real challenges lie in assessing the technical aspects of the allegedly infringed patent. While we agree that a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) innovator has significant challenges in assessing if a patent is valid, essential, and infringed, the FRAND commitment is the core mechanism that ensures SEP licensing is fair and balanced. A FRAND determination is therefore the core issue in all SEP licensing disputes because if a SEP holder refuses to provide a license to a willing licensee, they are breaching their commitment and acting anticompetitively.

Other judges, such as Justice C. Hari Shankar, added a pragmatic view, emphasizing the importance of maintaining Indian procedural examinations and ensuring that foreign precedent doesn’t dictate local decisions. His balanced, grounded view resonates with our goal of aligning SEP enforcement with national judicial principles while ensuring fairness.

The Agencies

During the USPTO SEP Symposium, we heard from India’s intellectual property office (CGPDTM) and the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), where discussions revealed India’s ambition to play a leading role in Southeast Asia’s SEP licensing framework development. Officials like Prof. Dr. Unnat Pandit and Dr. G.R. Raghavender reiterated that India’s innovation ecosystem is constrained not by ideas, but by structural and regulatory gaps. They pointed to India’s track record in slowly adopting new technologies, citing the delayed transition from traditional bulbs to LEDs, as an example. But there was a clear desire to leap ahead, particularly in defining fair licensing models for the next generation of technology, including 6G.

We also met with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to discuss our submissions on 5G and OTT policy frameworks. We shared our recommendations for a pro-innovation SEP environment and discussed the growing risk of SEP abuse, especially in health-related Internet of Things (IoT) use cases. Our policy paper was well received, offering concrete principles of the FRAND commitment and best practices mapped to the Indian and international landscapes.

Our meeting with India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) focused on the broader tech policy landscape. MeitY is undertaking critical work to bolster India’s domestic semiconductor and ICT capabilities and has rightly included SEP licensing among its focus areas. We shared resources on SEP policy, AI governance, and privacy compliance. We highlighted our AI roles and liability framework and expressed interest in India’s planned AI Summit in 2026. On privacy, we applauded MeitY’s measured and SME-friendly approach and offered to help develop a self-attestation code of conduct for startups and small firms.

The Stakeholders

We concluded our delegation with a listening session in Bangalore focused on SEP licensees. The discussion revealed how important it is for small businesses to have a strong voice and advocacy infrastructure in India. Given their global reach, these issues should not only be elevated to the Indian government but to international bodies such as the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and standard-development organizations (SDOs).

Moving Forward

India is at a pivotal moment in shaping SEP licensing and broader tech policy, and the outcomes will directly affect how small companies build, scale, and compete in global markets. We’re encouraged by the growing recognition across Indian courts, agencies, and stakeholders that SEP abuse threatens innovation and that fair, transparent frameworks are essential, especially for small and independent developers. From TRAI’s openness to implementer-focused reforms to MeitY’s SME-sensitive privacy and AI efforts, the door is open for practical solutions.

That’s why we’re continuing the conversation by hosting an in-person industry workshop on 30 May 2025. We will be discussing A Fair Standard-Essential Patent Licensing Process for a Thriving Economy with our partners from O.P. Jindal Global University and Saikrishna & Associates. Register here for an opportunity to engage directly with key stakeholders in the field of SEP licensing and policy.

India is at a pivotal moment in shaping how SEPs are licensed and enforced, and we are helping to ensure that balanced, transparent, and globally consistent approaches take root. For our members, this work is more than advocacy; it’s about shaping the standards and policies that will define their ability to access markets, build innovative tools, and compete on a level playing field. We’ll keep engaging with Indian stakeholders and encourage any and all members, developers, and small businesses who are interested in this work to reach out to Brad Simonich to learn how to engage.