Monitoring of Contributions to SSOs
Monitoring of contributions to standards setting organizations tracks the technical proposals companies submit to bodies such as 3GPP, and which of those proposals are accepted and adopted into the standard.
Most contributions don't make it in
Every week, several organizations submit their technical contributions to the SSO to standardize technology. Only a few are adopted and incorporated.
The tracking shows where a company's technology is entering the standard, and points to patent filings that may become standard essential patents.
Two things we track
Contributions are read from the submissions themselves and from the meeting reports that record what a working group agreed.
Submissions
Every contribution submitted by the organizations you are tracking, whether or not it goes anywhere.
Meeting reports
Which proposals were accepted and adopted, the part that matters for essentiality later.
Those two sources are then read against the organization's patent filings, so an adopted contribution can be connected to the applications filed around the same technical idea.
How this points to future SEPs
A patent becomes standard essential when the standard cannot be practised without it, so essentiality usually traces back to a contribution that was adopted.
Adopted contribution
A proposal survives into the standard, recorded in the meeting report.
Matching filing
The patent application filed around the same technical idea is identified.
Future SEP flagged
The filing is highlighted while it is still pending, well before any declaration or licensing discussion.
What you tell us to get started
- Organizations to watch
- The companies whose contributions matter to you, whether rivals or your own.
- Standards work in scope
- The working groups or releases you care about.
- Filings to match
- If the interest is your own portfolio, the filings you want matched to adopted contributions.
Who uses it
SEP holders and implementers
Watching a standard develop and seeing where their technology is entering it.
Licensing teams
Tracking rivals and the filings likely to sit behind their future assertions.
Investors
Wanting early warning of which filings are likely to become standard essential patents.
By the time a SEP is declared, the interesting part already happened in a meeting report months earlier.
What you receive
- A record of all contributions submitted by the organizations you are tracking
- A list of accepted and adopted contributions, taken from the meeting reports
- A customized report on accepted contributions and the related patent filings
- A view of the filings highlighted as future standard essential patents
Frequently asked questions
What is monitoring of contributions to SSOs?
It is the tracking of technical proposals that organizations submit to a standards setting body, and of which proposals the body then accepts and adopts. Every week several organizations submit contributions to standardize technology, and only a few are incorporated. Monitoring follows both stages: what was submitted, and what survived into the standard. The result is a customized report on an organization's accepted contributions and the patent filings related to them.
What sources are used to track contributions?
Contributions are read from the submissions themselves and from the meeting reports that record what a working group agreed. Submissions show what each organization proposed. Meeting reports show which proposals were accepted and adopted, which is the part that matters for essentiality later. Those two sources are then read against the organization's patent filings, so an adopted contribution can be connected to the applications filed around the same technical idea.
How does this help identify future SEPs?
A patent becomes standard essential when the standard cannot be practised without it, so essentiality usually traces back to a contribution that was adopted. Watching adopted contributions and the filings made around them shows, early, which applications are on a path to essentiality. The report highlights those future SEPs while the applications are still pending, which is well before any declaration or licensing discussion begins.
What does the client need to specify?
The organizations to watch and the standards work you care about. That usually means naming the companies whose contributions matter to you and the working groups or releases in scope. If the interest is competitive, a list of rival organizations is enough. If the interest is your own portfolio, the filings you want matched to adopted contributions help shape the report. The report is then customized to that organization's accepted contributions and related filings.
Track a standard as it develops
Tell us the organizations and the standards work you want followed, and we'll scope the monitoring.
