On Thursday 12 February, the European Commission requested a panel to rule on the legality of certain Chinese practices at the next meeting of the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) on 24 February.
These practices involve empowering Chinese courts to set worldwide licensing conditions (including royalty rates) for portfolios of standard essential patents (SEPs), which may contain EU patents, without the patent owners’ consent.
These SEPs protect technologies that enable the manufacture of goods that comply with a standard, such as 5G for mobile phones, for example.
This situation is forcing European high-tech companies to lower royalty rates for their SEP portfolios on a global scale, “giving Chinese manufacturers using European technology an unfair advantage”, regrets the Commission. In a press release, it further argues that the measure undermines the jurisdiction of EU courts regarding European patents.
This request to establish a WTO panel comes after WTO consultations in April 2025 failed. China can object to the creation of this panel just once. If it does so, the EU intends to renew its request to establish the panel at the next DSB meeting. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)