SEPs licensing across the supply chain: an antitrust perspective

The rise of the Internet of Things (IoT) and the development of 5G are set to add a new layer of complexity to the current practice of standard essential patents (SEPs) licensing. While, until recently, the debate has centred on the nature of fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) commitments and the mechanisms to avoid hold-up and reverse hold-up problems between licensors and licensees, a new hotly-debated issue has now emerged. At its core is the question of whether SEP holders should be required to grant a FRAND licence to any implementer seeking a licence, including component makers (the so-called ‘licence-to-all’ approach), or if they should be allowed freely to target the supply-chain level at which the licence is to be granted (the so-called ‘access-for-all’ approach). After providing an up-to-date overview of the current legal and economic debate, this article focuses on the most recent antitrust case law dealing with the matter on both sides of the Atlantic and argues that no sound economic and legal bases which favour licence-to-all solutions can be identified. * The authors would like to thank the anonymous referees, Luigi Federico Signorini and the participants in the 2021 Annual Conference of European Policy for Intellectual Property (EPIP), in the 38th Annual Conference of the European Law and Economics Association (EALE), in the TILTing Perspectives 2021 (Tilburg University), and in the 16th Annual Conference of the Academic Society for Competition Law (ASCOLA). The study was conducted as part of the research activities promoted by the DEEP-IN (Digital Ecosystem, Economic Policy and Innovation) Research Network. The author is grateful for the financial support received. Any opinions expressed in this paper are personal and are not to be attributed to the Bank of Italy. The first is Half-Causation Branching, which allows the logical mapping of the inventing space, within which the imaginary invention is located. Implementing this tool reveals two alternative nearby inventions, which if left out of the sought patent protection would render any eventually granted patent practically worthless. Following that, Half-Causation Encapsulation comes to the rescue by allowing the encapsulation of the original imaginary invention, plus the two alternative nearby ones, all in a manner that provides the all-important unity of invention On the one hand, patent agents are not supposed to contribute to their client’s inventive concept to the extent that they become co-inventors. On the other hand, scientists and engineers are not supposed to dedicate so much time and effort to learning about complex patent laws as to become patent agents. Arguably, each should aim to excel in their discipline. However, a structured dialogue should be considerably helpful to each and to the patent process as a whole. It is proposed that Half-Causation, with its logical structure, can provide a basis for such a dialogue. Besides targeting a readership in patent practices and theory, this paper should be of interest to multiple readerships, for example in engineering design, medical discovery and philosophy of technology.

How Half-Causation can enlighten the drafting of patent claims

The author’s 2019 article ‘If You Wish to Invent Then Follow the Half-Causation Method’ presented ‘Half-Causation’, which is a philosophical model for the systemization of the invention process. It consists of five phases of reasoning, each terminating with taking a ‘logical branch’. This paper has two objectives. The first (and preliminary) objective is to introduce a readership in patent practices (and theory) to Half-Causation. The second (and primary) objective is to highlight how Half-Causation can be practically useful to patent practitioners (and perhaps ultimately theorists), specifically in terms of enlightening the drafting of patent claims. In order to do this effectively, the reader is presented with a case which they can engage with to see for themselves how Half-Causation can help, step by step. The presented case was the subject of the USPTO’s 2019 patent drafting competition. It consists of rather convoluted instructions received from an ‘imaginary’ client about their ‘imaginary’ invention. The case is an excellent opportunity to illustrate how Half-Causation as a philosophical model can be practically useful. Two Half-Causation tools are implemented. The first is Half-Causation Branching, which allows the logical mapping of the inventing space, within which the imaginary invention is located. Implementing this tool reveals two alternative nearby inventions, which if left out of the sought patent protection would render any eventually granted patent practically worthless. Following that, Half-Causation Encapsulation comes to the rescue by allowing the encapsulation of the original imaginary invention, plus the two alternative nearby ones, all in a manner that provides the all-important unity of invention On the one hand, patent agents are not supposed to contribute to their client’s inventive concept to the extent that they become co-inventors. On the other hand, scientists and engineers are not supposed to dedicate so much time and effort to learning about complex patent laws as to become patent agents. Arguably, each should aim to excel in their discipline. However, a structured dialogue should be considerably helpful to each and to the patent process as a whole. It is proposed that Half-Causation, with its logical structure, can provide a basis for such a dialogue. Besides targeting a readership in patent practices and theory, this paper should be of interest to multiple readerships, for example in engineering design, medical discovery and philosophy of technology.

Comparative phraseological units: features of the subclass (by an example of the German language)

The article analyzes the features of comparative phraseological units, which are distinguished by researchers into a separate subclass existing in different languages. The relevance of the topic is confirmed by the unquenchable interest in comparative phraseological units from the linguistic point of view and a new perspective of their consideration within the framework of the author's phraseology in works of artistic discourse. The article identifies cognitive mechanisms common to different linguocultures that underlie the structure of comparative phraseological units, as well as national and cultural differences manifesting in semantic variation where there is lexical equivalence of comparative phraseological units in different languages. In this regard, the importance of the culture-oriented and the research approach by the translation of comparative phraseological units is emphasized. A comprehensive analysis of comparative phraseological units as a phraseology phenomenon is necessary for an adequate consideration of their place within the author's phraseology on the basis of selected works of the German-speaking Swiss writer Urs Widmer. Artistic discourse is presented as a literary communicative phenomenon, actualizing linguistic parameters. The selected works are saturated with phraseological units demonstrating examples of language game at the phraseological level, while in quantitative terms, comparative phraseological units make up a small percentage 13 % and 10 %, respectively, of the total volume of phraseological units in two texts. It is noted that not all comparative phraseological units used by Widmer are recorded in dictionaries. The author of the article assigns them to this subclass not only due to the presence of formal signs (structure, idiomaticity), but also on the basis of the corpus approach, which reveals enough evidence of the prevalence of comparative phraseological units in the language. Among the methods used, it is also necessary to note content analysis and a comparative approach, which enables to draw parallels between different languages (between German, Russian and English). It is stated that in spite of all the expressiveness of comparative phraseological units, their rigid logical structure limits the game potential and excludes them from the language game, which the author implements in the works selected for analysis.

Dealing with the Ambiguity of Glycan Substructure Search

The level of ambiguity in describing glycan structure has significantly increased with the upsurge of large-scale glycomics and glycoproteomics experiments. Consequently, an ontology-based model appears as an appropriate solution for navigating these data. However, navigation is not sufficient and the model should also enable advanced search and comparison. A new ontology with a tree logical structure is introduced to represent glycan structures irrespective of the precision of molecular details. The model heavily relies on the GlycoCT encoding of glycan structures. Its implementation in the GlySTreeM knowledge base was validated with GlyConnect data and benchmarked with the Glycowork library. GlySTreeM is shown to be fast, consistent, reliable and more flexible than existing solutions for matching parts of or whole glycan structures. The model is also well suited for painless future expansion.

Disjunctive Answer Options Complicate Communication – A Linguistic Analysis of the Danish EQ-5D (5L) Version

Background: EQ-5D is an internationally acknowledged tool for assessing health-related quality of life. Our aim was to examine how pragmatic dynamics may influence answers to the EQ-5D-5L and how the logical structure of answer options affects the communication of the questionnaire.Methods: We performed a 3-step linguistic analysis building on the seminal work of Grice, including 1) examination of the lexical meanings of the answer options, 2) considerations of how conversational maxims might affect the respondent’s interpretation of answer options when two or more answer options in an item are compatible, and 3) analysis of how the questionnaire’s context might counteract the problem of omissions of answer options by shifting the meaning of context-sensitive expressions. Results: All items exhibit compatibilities and omissions. In items 1 and 3, ordinary conversational norms provide sufficient guidance to determine how a respondent should decide between compatible answer options. In items 2, 4, and 5, the available answer options complicated the communicative task for some respondents. Conclusions: In items where answer options have a disjunctive structure, respondents relying on Gricean maxims of conversation will have to depend on their individual understanding of fine-grained details concerning the questionnaire’s purpose and may have to weigh how conflicting norms should be balanced.

Dentists satisfaction with professional activities

Background. Supporting the health personnel satisfaction of with their professional activities and motivating them to work is a means of effective human resource management. The patient's health and the quality of life associated with it depends on the motivation and satisfaction with the professional activity of the health specialists. The satisfaction as a characteristic of organizational culture differs among physicians of different specialties. The purpose of the study: to determine the level of satisfaction with the professional activities of dentists of institutions providing highly specialized dental care. Materials and methods. The author's structured questionnaires were used, completed by 110 dentists from three regional dental care institutions. Methods: sociological; medical and statistical; logical structure analysis; generalizations. Results. In general, dentists highly rated satisfaction with their professional activities on a 5-point scale: 4.6 ± 0.5 points – doctors of the Сommunal Non-profit Company (CNC) "Zhytomyr Regional Dental Medical Association"; 4.2 ± 0.4 points – doctors of the CNC of the Kharkiv Regional Council "Regional Dental Clinic"; 4.3 ± 0.9 points – doctors of the CNC "Chernihiv Regional Dental Clinic of the Chernihiv Regional Council". However, the respondents of the CNC "Chernihiv Regional Dental Clinic of the Chernihiv Regional Council" expressed only partial satisfaction with the opportunity to improve their qualifications at the workplace, the state of the provision of drugs, consumables and evidence-based technologies, the level of wages (range of estimates 3.5 ± 0.9 – 3, 7 ± 1.1 points). It was found that the lowest satisfaction scores of dentists of all institutions concerned professional relations with colleagues of the polyclinics structural units where they work, with the administration, and with doctors of other health care institutions: doctors' assessments, depending on the institutions, varied, respectively, within 4, 2 ± 0.4 – 4.4 ± 0.7 points, 4.4 ± 0.5 – 4.5 ± 0.5 points, 4.0 ± 1.0 – 4.4 ± 0.7 points. Conclusions. General assessments of satisfaction with the professional activities of dentists are high, but the professional relations of dentists need to be improved, improvement is the state of resource provision of institutions and opportunities for professional development; increases – salary. This information can be used to make management decisions to strengthen the organizational culture of healthcare institutions by improving personnel management.

Logical Structure of Actions to Reduce the Impacts of Traffic Incidents

Traffic incidents (such as broken-down vehicles, accidents, flat tires and other) constitute an important concern in the urban context, impacting the sustainable development. Thus, currently, the proposition of efficient traffic incident management systems has been encouraged to re-establish road safety and restore the network's traffic capacity. Thus, this paper aims to investigate the main impacts of traffic incidents and elaborate a logical structure of actions that should be employed to improve their management. The results show that many impacts can be identified in the three spheres of sustainable development and improvement actions must accelerate responses to emergencies, invest in Intelligent Transportation System (ITS), develop urban planning with a focus on more roads secure and enforce existing laws and regulations.

Features of the content of teaching test tasks in mathematics for students of secondary vocational education institutions

The paper discusses the possibilities of using educational mathematical content in the implementation of educational testing. Distance learning requires a significant revision of educational content. This research is based on the analysis of the accumulated experience in the implementation of training testing. An analysis was carried out in the field of improving educational content and the main directions were determined. Variants of designing the content of test tasks for students of secondary vocational education institutions are proposed, taking into account the specifics of educational activities in the specialty 15.02.07 Automation of technological processes and production (by industry). A new methodological approach to the development and testing process is proposed. The test tasks and their sequence, designed adequately to the logical structure of the educational material, contribute to the formation of systemic knowledge and ways of working with them. It is advisable to include in the content of test materials tasks that focus on building logical conclusions. These techniques and tests are carried out at the Nizhnevartovsk Oil College.

Research and Implementation of SCD Precision Decoupling in Intelligent Substation for Single Equipment Replacement

In the process of reconstruction and expansion of intelligent substation, it is difficult to accurately define the influence scope of SCD file upgrade. In the wake of each modification of SCD file, all configuration information contained in SCD needs to be re-verified, which greatly increases the workload of debugging, operation and maintenance of intelligent substation. Via decoupling SCD files, the problems of modification and re-verification of SCD files in the reconstruction and expansion stage can be tackled. In this paper, SCD precision decoupling method for smart substation with single equipment replacement is proposed, which makes SCD decoupling work more detailed, adaptable to various expansion and technical transformation of substation. The decoupling of SCD is refined from logical structure to physical link level, and the decoupling range of SCD is precisely determined, so as to minimize the modification and reverification range of SCD files and reduce the change risk caused by SCD modification.

Development of an electronic educational resource for secondary vocational education programs

One of the most important problems of modern education is the use of information and communication technologies in educational activities and the educational process for all types and at all levels of education. Special requirements are currently imposed on the electronic information and educational environment of an educational institution. The Krasnoyarsk Institute of Railway Transport has created an electronic educational resource for secondary vocational education programs, operating on the basis of LMS Moodle. This electronic educational resource is based on general didactic principles: scientific nature, accessibility, visibility, systematicity and consistency of training, strength of knowledge assimilation, intellectual potential. It was accepted that each electronic course within the resource should have the following qualities: a developed hypertext structure in the conceptual part, as well as in a logical structure of presentation, a user-friendly navigation system, the ability to use multimedia technologies, accessibility, links to literary sources, electronic libraries and sources of information on the Internet, effective feedback.The organizational measures for building the structure of an electronic educational resource and the stages of its implementation in the educational process for secondary vocational education programs are considered: sequential training of the teaching staff in the development of courses in the Moodle system, the development and adoption of the structure of an electronic educational resource, the development of requirements for electronic courses placed in the resource.