This book presents a curated overview of the literature that encompasses legal, economic, business, technological, and public policy debates around patented technologies in globally standardized technologies of the future, such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, USB and 5G. They are a result of a collaborative process, complex engineering, and sustained R&D investment. These technologies and many more require common global technical standards that make them accessible, interconnected, and interoperable. The patents that are essential to the functioning of these standardized technologies, or standard essential patents (SEPs), are at the front and centre of all industries, governance methods, and interaction of citizens with the market and the state. The extensive literature review presented in this book helps us understand how patents drive rapid advances in technology and diverse applications in healthcare, wearable devices, automobiles, quantum tech, appliances, finance, defence, energy, computing, advanced research, and several allied areas. It provides an overview of the role of technical standards and how standard development bodies shape technology diffusion. This book maintains a balance between the interests of all crucial stakeholders — innovators & patent holders, developers & implementers of technical standards, licensors & licensees of essential patents, patent offices & regulatory bodies, downstream consumers & end-users, and the scientific community. This book will help understand the new challenges faced by people, organizations, and the planet in this decade and the way we pivot towards technologies of the future, and the way we blend perspectives from different disciplines and domains. It will ultimately determine how and when innovation in fast-emerging technologies like 6G, Artificial Intelligence, Natural Language Processing, Large Language Models, Quantum Computing, and Internet of Things is realized and deployed for the greater good.
