The hidden patents inside your Wi-Fi, and the UK's new plan for arguing about them
What happened
On 13 October 2026, the government published its response to a consultation about something most people have never heard of but use every day: standard essential patents. A standard essential patent, or SEP, is a patent you cannot avoid if you want to build a product that follows a technical standard. Wi-Fi is a standard. So is 5G. So is Bluetooth. If you want your device to connect to other devices, you have to use the patented techniques that make the standard work. There is no way round them - that is what "essential" means. In exchange, the companies that own these patents agree to license them on terms that are fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory. That mouthful is usually shortened to FRAND. The trouble is working out what "fair" costs. Negotiations drag on. Disputes end up in court and get expensive. Smaller companies, in particular, often cannot tell which patents they actually need or what a reasonable price looks like. The consultation ran from 15 July to 7 October 2025 and received 93 responses. The government has now decided on a set of targeted measures rather than a major overhaul. It will explore an early FRAND determination step inside existing court proceedings in England and Wales, so a price range can be settled sooner. It will run a call for evidence on a voluntary service, led by the Intellectual Property Office, that would give parties an early opinion on whether a licence offer sits inside a FRAND range. It will create a voluntary route for patent holders to share information about which of their patents relate to which standards. And it will publish practical good-faith licensing guidance aimed at businesses with little experience of this area. Adam Williams, Chief Executive of the Intellectual Property Office, said: "Standard Essential Patents underpin an increasing number of the technologies businesses and consumers rely on every day."
Why this matters
This sounds like a lawyers' argument, and much of it is. But it reaches further than that. These standards are inside things that are not obviously gadgets. Connected cars. Smart meters. Medical devices that send readings to a clinician. Agricultural sensors. Any of those can need a licence to a patent pool, and the cost ends up in the price of the product. The government's own figure for the scale is that the UK telecoms sector contributes over £40 billion a year to GDP. The sectors it lists as affected run from smartphones and Wi-Fi to connected vehicles, medical technology and advanced manufacturing - and, looking forward, AI, quantum and semiconductors. The group this is most clearly aimed at is small and medium-sized businesses. A large manufacturer has an in-house patent team and has done this before. A twelve-person firm in Lincolnshire putting a connected sensor on the market usually does not, and may not even know a licence is required until a letter arrives. That asymmetry is the problem the measures try to address. Not by capping prices, but by making information easier to get and disputes quicker to resolve. Whether that is enough is a fair question, and the consultation itself showed people disagree about it.
What the evidence actually says
The honest summary of the consultation is that everybody agreed on the aims and nobody agreed on the diagnosis. The government's own account says respondents broadly supported the objectives but disagreed about how serious the problems are and what should be done about them. With 93 responses from both patent holders and the companies that license from them, that is not surprising. What is more informative is what the government decided not to do, and why. It has dropped the idea of a standalone Rate Determination Track - a separate process purely for setting licence rates. It has decided against an essentiality checking service, where the Intellectual Property Office would assess whether a patent really is essential to a standard, at least for now. It will instead look at transparency and non-binding best practice. Most notably, it decided against further limits on injunctions - court orders that can stop a product being sold. Its stated reason is specific: the consultation did not show that the current framework is blocking market entry, deterring innovation or driving products out of the UK. That is a conclusion drawn from evidence that did not arrive, rather than evidence that did. It is a legitimate basis for not acting, but it is worth naming for what it is. Companies that believe injunctions are being used as leverage will not regard the matter as closed. It is also worth noting what stage this is at. Most of these measures are to be explored, consulted on further, or published as guidance. The call for evidence on the FRAND opinion service is due shortly on GOV.UK, and no final decision on that service has been made.
Practical advice
If you run or work in a business that makes or sells anything connected, a few things follow from this. Assume connectivity has a licensing cost. If your product contains Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or a mobile connection, patent licensing is a real line item, not a theoretical risk. Build it into your thinking before launch, not after a letter arrives. Use the free resources before paying for advice. The Intellectual Property Office runs a SEPs Resource Hub, launched in July 2024, which the government says it will expand. For a small firm, an hour there is a genuinely good investment and costs nothing. Watch for the call for evidence. The government says it will publish a call for evidence on a voluntary FRAND opinion service on GOV.UK shortly. If this area affects your business, that is your chance to say so - and consultations with 93 responses are decided by the people who bother to reply. Keep records of your negotiations. The measures lean heavily on earlier information exchange and good-faith conduct before litigation. If a dispute ever starts, a clear written trail of what you asked for and when is worth a great deal. Ask about alternative dispute resolution early. The government is encouraging parties to be pointed towards it. Mediation or arbitration is usually far cheaper than the High Court. And if you are not in business at all, the practical takeaway is smaller: when a connected device seems expensive for what it does, some of that cost is licences you will never see on the box.
What to know
The government published its response to the standard essential patents consultation on 13 October 2026, after 93 responses to a consultation that ran from July to October 2025. It will take targeted steps rather than big reforms: exploring an early FRAND determination stage in England and Wales court proceedings, a call for evidence on a voluntary IPO opinion service on whether a licence offer is FRAND, a voluntary route for sharing patent-to-standard information, and practical licensing guidance for inexperienced businesses. It ruled out a standalone rate determination track, an essentiality checking service for now, and further limits on injunctions - on the basis that the consultation did not show the current system is blocking market entry or driving products out of the UK. Small and medium-sized businesses are the intended beneficiaries. The IPO's SEPs Resource Hub is the free place to start. Sources: GOV.UK / Intellectual Property Office, "Government sets out next steps on Standard Essential Patents", 13 October 2026, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-sets-out-next-steps-on-standard-essential-patents; GOV.UK, Intellectual Property Office, https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/intellectual-property-office This article is for general information and is not legal, financial or professional advice. It does not replace advice from a qualified intellectual property solicitor or patent attorney, nor advice from a doctor or pharmacist on any health matter.
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