On 13 May 2011, NERA Senior Vice President Dr. Alan Cox addressed the Austin Chapter of the Licensing Executives Society on the topic of "Licensing and Litigating Reasonable Royalties for Patents in Technical Standards." Dr. Cox discussed the difficulties in defining a Fair, Reasonable, and Non-Discriminatory (FRAND) royalty, an issue that often results in litigation. This program explored the meaning of FRAND in the context of licensing a patent in a standard, and how FRAND would compare to reasonable royalties under the evolving standards that the courts are imposing in calculating a reasonable royalty.  Particular issues that were discussed included: the economics of standards and FRAND; what happens when these issues get taken up in the courts; and the impact of these considerations on the bylaws, rules, and operations of standard-setting organizations. The program also covered difficulties in creating patent pools and the establishment and collection of royalties.

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