论标准必要专利中FRAND承诺的法律性质

Analysis on the Legal Nature of FRAND Commitments in Standard Essential Patents

FRAND承诺在标准必要专利相关审判实践中占有越来越重要的地位,但该承诺在法律上性质何如却尚无令人信服之定论。因其与专利披露义务存在不可分割性,FRAND承诺实际上依赖于SEP权利人与SSO之间的基础合同——SEP披露合同而建立,并与该基础合同共同构成为第三人利益合同,属于其中为第三人利益约款,赋予标准使用者以利益,使之获得以订立FRAND许可为目的与SEP权利人依据FRAND条款进行磋商的机会。FRAND承诺之为第三人利益约款属性的确定,使标准使用者基于为第三人利益合同产生的直接请求权得以与源自FRAND许可合同的先合同义务相结合,共同约束FRAND许可的谈判、缔约过程,运用民法的力量弥补专利法、反垄断法救济之不足,应对FRAND许可磋商中可能产生于各方当事人的恶意。

Although the role of FRAND commitments in judicial practice is getting more and more crucial,there is still no convincing theory regarding their legal nature.Due to its inseparability with patent declaration obligation, FRAND commitment is actually relying on contract of SEP declaration which is the prime contract concluded by SEP holder with SSO,it forms a third-party beneficiary clause in this contract.The commitment benefits all user of the standard by offering the possibility to negotiate a FRAND license with the SEP holder under the guidance of the FRAND clause.The determination of the legal nature of FRAND commitment as third-party beneficiary clause helps to govern the negotiating and contracting process of FRAND license by combining the effect of the direct action right from the third-party beneficiary contract and the precontractual obligations originated from the FRAND license,thus using the civil law to make up the insufficiency of reliefs provided by patent law and competition law facing SEP issues and dealing with the bad faith that can occur to either party during the negotiation.