European Telecommunications Standards Institute

The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) is a non-profit institution founded in 1988. The UMTS and the GSM standards were developed under the aegis of the ETSI. ETSI members are engaged in research and development of telecommunications technology and own intellectual property rights relating to different elements of such technologies. ETSI members take such intellectual property rights into account when developing specifications for standards.

ETSI has adopted an Intellectual Property Policy ("IPR Policy") to govern the manner in which ETSI will take account of such intellectual property rights in the process leading to the adoption of ETSI standards. The ETSI IPR Policy was adopted in 1994, and has been part of the "ETSI Directives" since at least December 2004, and its provisions are explained in the ETSI Guide on Intellectual Property Rights.