Context: Since 2023, India has become an increasingly standard-essential patent (SEP) holder-friendly venue as a result of major decisions issued by the Delhi High Court. These include its decision to award a record $29 million to Ericsson in a dispute against Lava in March 2023, and, more recently, a landmark win for Philips (February 24, 2025 ip fray article), another record $43 million security deposit for Ace Technologies (July 9, 2025 ip fray article), and pro tem relief for Dolby (July 11, 2025 LinkedIn post by Singh and Singh’s Ashutosh Kumar).
What’s new: Several experts in the SEP community have said that the scope of ACT | The App Association (June 20, 2025 ip fray article) and its activities in India, which have increased over the past six months, is “worrisome” and is particularly problematic in the IoT sphere. The organization has been pushing an agenda that India is a “large implementer” and could be “harming consumers”, particularly those “vulnerable” and “unwell”, via organized conferences, publications, and major legal dispute interventions, sources have told ip fray. Moreover, ACT has actively been lobbying for a similar policy to the proposed EU SEP Regulation, they have said.
Direct impact: SEP holders have said that these actions are attacking the “very system” in India, rather than looking to encourage participation in standardization activities. The “alarmism” that ACT is pushing “seems to be misplaced” as it is “under the guise of ‘we are representing SME interests’ to play into the concerns of the Indian government.”
Wider ramifications: Via conversations with various stakeholders in the SEP market, ip fray has also found that these types of activities have increased in other jurisdictions, particularly those with a high number of implementers, such as Colombia, China, and, to a lesser extent, Brazil.
Among the actions that ACT has been taking, according to major SEP holders, is meeting government officials and attending symposia on SEP licensing, before taking over the sponsorship of Jindal University to host a recent event inviting local stakeholders to discuss SEP licensing (July 7, 2025 ACT press release). This was one of several popping up across the country. In June, the Controller General of Patents in India also held a roundtable discussion on the effect of SMEs by SEP licensing, with a key focus on different royalty rates for different sectors. The discussion also touched on royalty stacking.
One expert at a major patentee speaking on the condition of anonymity told ip fray that ACT, alongside the Fair Standards Alliance, have also taken papers they have written for the EU market and given them an “Indian flavor”, suggesting that SEP licensing is a “barrier” in India (August 14, 2023 SSRN paper).
ACT is also trying to intervene in a case between Ericsson and the Competition Commission of India (CCI) over whether the antitrust body has jurisdiction over patent licensing issues, which is currently pending before the Supreme Court of India (October 27, 2023 AZB & Partners article). The organization has been partnering with major national companies such as Reliance and Tejas Networks to “push this agenda”, according to the SEP expert, as well as organizations such as ASIA and the India Cellular and Electronics Association.
Why now? According to one source, this is because ACT and other stakeholders have begun to think that the Indian courts are “too patentee-friendly”. “But,” they added, “there is no need for a regulatory counterbalance for the courts, but that is what has been pushed in the narrative.”
Latin American concerns
ACT’s activities have also begun to pick up in other jurisdictions, particularly those with a high number of implementers. In April, ACT took part in both a USPTO SEP symposium and a USPTO listening session, while some events have also taken place in China, according to the SEP expert.
Meanwhile, in Brazil, ACT co-hosted an event with Legal Grounds Institute last year, which focused on SEP licensing policy and enforcement. The discussion addressed global trends and touched on challenges in the Brazilian context, particularly around FRAND licensing and potential abuses by SEP holders. But regulation per se is not a huge concern in the market. The debate around SEPs in Brazil is still evolving, and the courts are gradually building expertise in handling these complex cases. The focus currently remains more on judicial interpretation and arguments than on legislative reform.
In Colombia, lobbying efforts are on the radar. For example, Apple hired a Colombian communications firm, which in turn pushed its views on a local key opinion leader, Maria Isabel Rueda, who published two op-eds in two of the most read periodicals in Colombia (Semana: July 14, 2022 and El Tiempo: July 16, 2022).
The patentee expert added that they have chosen these jurisdictions to latch onto a few local implementers so they can be the “face of the campaign”. It does not come as a surprise, though, as this is where key litigation is being fought out, and they are moving in to stop some of the “success” that SEP holders have had in the courts there, they noted.
Why are SEP holders concerned?
The Indian government, like many across the world, is trying to encourage greater participation by Indian companies, particularly SMEs, in standards.
The government even went as far as to mull a potential “sovereign patent fund”, which would involve a management board responsible for facilitating IP licensing deals between SEP owners and SMEs, following calls from implementers that SEP owners have “unfavorable bargaining powers” in licensing negotiations. “Handset manufacturers, now out of business because they have lost out to Chinese competition, have been able to create and sell this story to the Indian government that we [SEP owners] are ‘bloodsuckers’ and are here just to extract money,” a local SEP holder said.
Those plans seem to have been tabled for now, however. This may mainly be because India often turns to the EU for inspiration in its policymaking decisions. In the EU, the proposed SEP Regulation is currently tabled, and may have prompted Indian thought leaders to realise that following that same road may not be such a good idea.
But ACT’s activities, according to one source, are attacking the “very system”, rather than looking to encourage participation in standardization activities.
“We are seeing a lot of scaremongering under the guise of ‘we are representing SME interests’,” they added, “to play into the concerns of the Indian government.”
And, many have pointed out, there is no evidence showing that SMEs are being “hurt” or “targeted”. “This is a common misconception, so the ACT alarmism seems to be misplaced,” one said.
What are SEP holders doing about it?
Patentees are engaging with stakeholders, sharing their innovation ecosystem story and talking to them as large contributors to global standards. Already being present in India has been helpful in this process, and holding these discussions helps “demystify” SEP licensing there, one SEP expert said. Patentees are also working with universities, academics, economists and law firms about what is happening in practice, educating them about being a positive part of the global ecosystem.
Similarly to Europe, the debate has started almost completely centred on the wireless space and patent holders are trying to point out to people that there are other spaces out there and the dynamics aren’t necessarily the same.
But matching the resources that ACT have is difficult, engaging with the market in a meaningful way takes time, and sometimes it feels like you are trying to “prove a negative”, which means you face an uphill struggle, another source said.