The long-running dispute between the European Telecommunications Standards Institute and the US Computer and Business Equipment Manufacturers Association has been resolved, reports Reuters: the argument – over Euro-rules governingthe use of patents in the standards body’s technical standards – centred on the amount of time patent holders were given to decide whether they wished to withold their patents. The Europeans had proposed they should have 180 days, but the US lobby claimed a longer period was needed. The two have compromised by saying that although the 180 days will remain, the clock will start ticking only when the technical committee concerned agreed a ‘stable text’ rather than from when a work programme for the standard had been announced. However, firms actually represented on the committee would have only 90 days.
