WIPO Symposium on Standard Essential Patents: “SEPtember Symphony” Brings Together Global SEP Community

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) hosted its first-ever Symposium on Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) on September 18 and 19, 2025, at its Geneva headquarters. The two-day event, themed “A SEPtember Symphony,” brought together more than 800 participants from around the world, both onsite and via webcast, for a vibrant exchange on the policy, legal, and economic dimensions of SEPs and their licensing.

A Platform for Global Dialogue

The Symposium, organized under the WIPO Strategy on Standard Essential Patents 2024–26, provided a unique, neutral forum for judges, policymakers, standardization experts, industry representatives, litigators, economists, and patent specialists to share perspectives and foster collaboration across the innovation ecosystem.

In his opening address, WIPO’s Director General Daren Tang emphasized WIPO’s international mandate and its commitment to facilitating dialogue among diverse stakeholders.

“This symposium is an important milestone in the implementation of WIPO’s comprehensive Strategy on SEPs. It brings together a very diverse set of stakeholders from around the world, and provides a global meeting point for discussions and information-sharing.”

WIPO Director General Daren Tang

One of the Symposium’s key goals was to help foster and promote a global understanding of the management, licensing and assertion of SEPs, a category of patents used to protect inventions that are considered essential to the implementation of a particular technology standard. Standards are critical for ensuring the safety, interoperability and compatibility of many everyday products and services, and consequently, SEPs play an important role in the development of technology.

Program Highlights

The program featured 14 sessions and more than 50 panelists, covering a wide range of SEP-related topics.Key sessions included:

Keynote Panel and Fireside Chat: Moderated by Lisa Jorgenson, Deputy Director General of WIPO’s Patents and Technology Sector and Marco Aleman, Assistant Director General of WIPO’s IP and Innovation Ecosystems Sector respectively, both sessions brought together thought leaders from academia, standard development organizations, and industry to discuss the complexities of SEPs and the path toward a more balanced ecosystem.
FRAND Determination: Experts explored the economic underpinnings and methodologies for determining fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms and the intersection of SEPs with competition law.
Dealmaking and ADR: Panels addressed the process of SEP licensing negotiations, the role of alternative dispute resolution, and the evolving landscape of SEP litigation and judicial developments.
Policy and Regulation: Government representatives and regulators discussed public policy measures and the role of national and international frameworks in shaping SEP licensing.